Rocky Anderson
Rocky Anderson (1951–) was the mayor of Salt Lake City for two terms and in more recent years has run for president of the United States as a candidate for the US Justice Party. He managed to get a measly 43,088 votes, or 0.03% of the vote. Despite this he has very reasonable positions and has a decent record as a public servant, though whether his unwillingness to run for president as a Progressive Democrat instead of on a third party ticket is foolish, admirable, or both, is up for debate. He has announced that he will not be running for president in 2016.[1]
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Rocky the mayor
Anderson managed to gain a record as a fiscal conservative when he helped increase the city's reserve fund by 62%. He was also one of the most outspoken critics of the Iraq War and the human rights abuses under both George Bush's and Barack Obama's administrations. He has even gone so far as to call for the impeachment of George Bush.[2] He is strongly opposed to the Patriot Act. He is also dedicated to raising awareness of global warming and reduced carbon emissions from the city by over 30%. He is very supportive of gay rights and campaigned against a proposed ban on gay marriage and won with 63% of the public's support.
As if that's not enough he wants to end the war on drugs and he has supported programs that put criminals such as junkies and prostitutes through rehabilitation and counseling instead of straight to jail, which saved the city quite a bit of money. He went so far as to discontinue D.A.R.E in schools and told D.A.R.E officials "I think your organization has been an absolute fraud on the people of this country... For you to continue taking precious drug-prevention dollars when we have such a serious and, in some instances, growing addiction problem is unconscionable."[3] Also on criminal justice he supported reforms that would put mentally ill offenders through treatment instead of in prison. He is opposed to the death penalty.
Finally, because he is apparently after the hearts of all RationalWiki users, he is opposed to the tobacco industry and has supported legislation that would discourage smoking, though he obviously doesn't want to outright ban it.[4]
Justice Party
In 2011 Anderson left the Democratic Party, saying “The Constitution has been eviscerated while Democrats have stood by with nary a whimper. It is a gutless, unprincipled party, bought and paid for by the same interests that buy and pay for the Republican Party." He was a founding member of the Justice Party and ran for President of the United States in 2012 as a proponent for social democracy. His run focused on economics, mainly his support of reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act and a large stimulus package that would get the economy jumpstarted again. During his run he criticized the Obama administration nearly as much as he did the Bush administration and he was eventually endorsed by Ralph Nader. After the election he ruled against running for Congress in 2014 or President in 2016.
As for the Justice Party itself, it follows under a creed of “economic, environmental, and social justice for all", which means they oppose everything that the actual American government does.
Criticism
He's gotten some flak from liberals and left-wingers for endorsing Mitt "Mittens" Romney for governor of Massachusetts after working with him on the 2002 Winter Olympics. However, he later recanted his support for him and criticized Romney when he took a hard right during his run for president, so as far as Anderson knew he was endorsing a moderate Republican for governor in 2002.
He also has been criticized for joining the Justice Party as opposed to joining the Green Party, with many center-left advocates wanting to see the parties merge. The difference between the parties, however, is that the Green Party is primarily focused on green politics and is a little more "radical" when it comes to fixing environmental issues, whereas the Justice Party is primarily focused on economics and advocating for a social democratic welfare state. Anderson himself has said he is willing to work with the Greens, however.
External links
References
- http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2012/12/rocky-anderson-to-not-run-for-congress/
- http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/22/us/22rocky.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
- http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/truth-or-dare/Content?oid=1075363
- http://www.deseretnews.com/article/945280/Rocky-targets-public-smoking.html