Pat Buchanan, George W. Bush or Al Gore for President in 2000? No way, says Reform Party nominee and Class of 1976 graduate John Hagelin.
With significantly more fanfare yet less publicity than the recent Democratic and Republican conventions, Hagelin has been nominated to spearhead the largest, most powerful coalition of third party candidates in history after the Reform Party split at its convention into the Reform Party of the U.S.A. -- headed by Hagelin -- and the Buchanan Reform Party.
"In this campaign I'm doing something that's never been done before -- forging a powerful coalition of America's leading independent political parties across the country," he said, noting the pledged support of state independent parties, the Natural Law Party and the Reform Party of the U.S.A., among others.
According to Hagelin, his Reform Party coalition in election 2000 has the best opportunity since Lincoln, an abolitionist, for a third party not only to influence the political agenda, but to capture the White House and implement solutions directly.
"United, we can challenge the two parties," Hagelin told The Dartmouth.
The future success of Hagelin's Reform Party will lie in taking votes away from the two old parties, who "will start to scramble to coop our ideas." Strategy, he said, lies not in converting Republicans or Democrats, but giving the 70 percent of the population not expected to vote in this election a reason to do so.
With a broad-based platform and an inclusive message of reform, unlike that of Buchanan, the Reform Party coalition hopes to prove serious contenders for the White House.
"Third party votes are the only votes that have accomplished anything of substance in our democracy," Hagelin said. While third parties do not win many seats, they are responsible for the vast majority of critical changes like the abolition of slavery, workers compensation and women's voting rights, he continued.
Hagelin said the Reform Party will "pull the rug out from special interests" that bankroll the campaigns of elected leaders. As a result of a system in which special interests prevail, America has bad health care and education systems, is largest polluter in the world and has the highest percentage of citizens incarcerated.
"[I've] discovered how terribly inept and unresponsive our government is and how addicted they are to special interest money," Hagelin said. "Common sense solutions that American people support will never progress through the Congress until a little healthy competition is introduced into the political system."
Two reform parties
At its nominating convention on August 10 and 11, the Reform Party split when Buchanan tried to usurp power and forcibly gain the nomination for November's election.
The debacle unfolded when Buchanan submitted a list of 500,000 ineligible voters, thus committing massive voter fraud during the Reform Party primary.
"He attempted to bury the primary vote and overrule it at the convention," Hagelin recalled. "He never could have done it at a legitimate convention."
Immediately after the split, those in opposition to Buchanan set up another convention in the same convention center in California. Hagelin described the first convention as "tumultuous," adding that Buchanan took with him some party loyalty and ballot access in the smaller states.
"I think he is finished. He committed political suicide in his hostile takeover in the Reform Party," Hagelin said.
Notable among the group that split from Buchanan and backed Hagelin for President were the rank and file and loyal party members, party founders, the majority of the strongest states and nine out of 11 executive committee members.
Hagelin's political base now includes the united Reform Party coalition, the Natural Law Party and the Independent Party of New York. Hagelin said he hopes to soon receive the support of Minnesota's Independent Party -- that of Governor Jesse Ventura -- and gain the final piece of the puzzle to complete a powerful national independent coalition.
Dartmouth days
While Hagelin will direct his immediate attention towards Minnesota, he hopes to visit Dartmouth in the fall and address students and campaign at his alma matter.
Hagelin recalls his Dartmouth days with fondness, and regrets matriculating with enough credits that enabled him to graduate in three years.
Frequenting the skiway and venturing into the mountains with fellow students ranked top among Hagelin's pastimes during his three years. He was also a brother at Phi Tau coeducational fraternity.
His campaign activities over the past year and a half have kept him from keeping up with the Student Life Initiative, but he hopes that when the political frenzy subsides he can catch up with College news and alumni friends.
A physics major born in Pittsburgh, Hagelin's political aspirations evolved only after 25 years of pure physics research.
While studying the deepest laws governing the evolution of the universe, Hagelin said he started to care about the poor state of America's education and disease care systems.
Using the applied scientific knowledge about the way things work, Hagelin combined public policy and common sense to address social problems, which is the underlying principle behind the Natural Law Party, for which he won the 1992 Presidential nomination.
The youth vote
Hagelin told The Dartmouth that much of his political message is youth and education oriented.
"My whole campaign is about the coming generation and the awakening of young people to the realization that our current policies are unsustainable," he said citing examples of our dependence on fossil fuels and the floundering disease care and Social Security systems.
"The students will inherit this mess," he said. "As a research physicist, a scientist running for office, I want to place this county on a sustainable, forward-looking path."
In order achieve this end, Hagelin said he plans to place a foundational importance on education to harness human resource power.
"All of our natural problems are human problems and the result of failure of education to expand human comprehension and to create and perpetuate global citizens," he said.
Hagelin also sees students as critical participants in the political process who have yet to realize the full potential of their power.
Though only 11 percent of eligible students voted in the 1998 mid-year elections, Hagelin said people under the age of 25 hold a tremendous political power should they choose to wield it.
With an optimistic view of youthful political apathy, Hagelin said he is beginning to see a political awakening on campuses, a stirring he has not seen since the 1960s.
