The US election is a couple of days away and if you’re like me, you’ve been hearing about two guys for the last few months. They’ve debated each other and called each other names. Sure, there’s also a guy called Nader trying to get his name on the ballot in a few states, but he’s not expected to have much of an impact. Not as much as in 2000, anyway.

But what about the other candidates? The “fringe” parties, the no-hopers? Though all together they will probably garner less than 1% of the votes, it’s worth paying some attention to them. Because they’re exercising their democratic rights to the fullest. They’re not voting, they’re running. That’s one of the things that’s so wonderful about our political system.

Check out the excellent Politics1 website for a full picture of the Americans who would be President. I discovered, for instance, that not only is there still a vigorous Temperance movement in American politics, but that they’ve recently gone through an ugly split, and now are running two candidates for the admittedly small temperance vote. There are also four parties contending for the Socialist/Workers vote, and a write-in candidate from something called the American Fascist Union.

Leonard Peltier is running for President as the leader of the Peace and Freedom Party of California, despite the fact that he’s serving a life sentence in prison. And former porn actress Marilyn Chambers Taylor is the “Vice” Presidential candidate for the Personal Choice party. And Lawrence Rey Topham? Well, you’ll just have to visit the site to see for yourself where he stands.

Isn’t democracy grand?