The American Freedom Party (formerly the American Third Position Party or A3P) is a

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

white supremacist White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...

political party in the United States. In November 2009, it filed papers to be on a ballot in California, and was launched in January 2010. It was created after the collapse of the Golden State Party, a party founded by the racist skinhead group Freedom 14, after its leader was exposed as a two-time felon.

Leadership

The party chairman is Los Angeles attorney

William Daniel Johnson William Daniel Johnson (born 1954) is an American white nationalist, attorney, and the chairman of the American Freedom Party. Background Johnson graduated from Brigham Young University where he majored in Japanese and later served as a Mormo ...

. Kevin B. MacDonald, a retired evolutionary psychology academic at

California State University, Long Beach California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), also known in athletics as Long Beach State University (LBSU), is a public teaching-focused institution in Long Beach, California, United States. The 322-acre campus is the second largest in the ...

, has been named one of the eight party directors. MacDonald is also a principal contributor to ''

The Occidental Quarterly ''The Occidental Quarterly'' is an American white nationalist magazine published by the Charles Martel Society. Its stated purpose is to defend "the cultural, ethnic, and racial interests of Western European peoples" and examine "contemporary po ...

'' where his articles have claimed that traits that he attributes to

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

s, including higher-than-average verbal intelligence and

ethnocentricism Ethnocentrism in social science and anthropology—as well as in colloquial English discourse—means to apply one's own culture or ethnicity as a frame of reference to judge other cultures, practices, behaviors, beliefs, and people, instead of ...

, have eugenically and culturally evolved to enhance the ability of Jews to out-compete

non-Jews ''Gentile'' () is a word that today usually means someone who is not Jewish. Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, have historically used the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is used as a synony ...

for resources. MacDonald believes this advantage has been used by Jews to advance their group interests and end potential

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

by either deliberately or inadvertently undermining the power and self-confidence of the European-derived majorities in the

Western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to various nations and state (polity), states in Western Europe, Northern America, and Australasia; with some debate as to whether those in Eastern Europe and Latin America also const ...

.*Kevin MacDonald:
Understanding Jewish Influence II: Zionism and the Internal Dynamics of Judaism
'. TOQonline.com. Retrieved on October 25, 2011.Kevin MacDonald:
Understanding Jewish Influence III: Neoconservatism as a Jewish Movement
'. TOQonline.com. Retrieved on October 25, 2011. A 2006 article in ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...

'' magazine by

Max Blumenthal Max Blumenthal (born December 18, 1977) is an American journalist, author, blogger, and filmmaker. He was a writer for ''The Nation'', AlterNet, ''The Daily Beast'', '' Al Akhbar'', '' Mondoweiss'', and Media Matters for America, and has contr ...

reported that MacDonald's 2004 ''Understanding Jewish Influence: A Study in Ethnic Activism'' (originally published in the ''Occidental Quarterly'') "has turned MacDonald into a celebrity within white nationalist and neo-Nazi circles." Writing in the ''

Journal of Church and State The ''Journal of Church and State'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal of religious studies and political science,Walter A. Elwell''Evangelical Dictionary of Theology'' Baker Academic, 2001, p. 254 covering issues related to the First ...

,'' Professor

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...

wrote that MacDonald's work "has been well received by those in the racialist right, as it amounts to a theoretically sophisticated justification for anti-Semitism," and that on the far-right MacDonald "has attained a near reverential status and is generally considered beyond reproach".

Electoral activities

New Hampshire state party chairman Ryan Murdough ran in the Republican primary for a seat representing the Eighth District of the Grafton County delegation to the

New Hampshire House of Representatives The New Hampshire House of Representatives is the lower house in the New Hampshire General Court, the bicameral State legislature (United States), legislature of the state of New Hampshire. The House of Representatives consists of 400 members com ...

, but he was refused support by the Republican party, which called him a "despicable racist". He placed fifth out of five candidates in the Republican primary, garnering 296 votes (11%). Murdough was the National Political Director for the National Socialist American Labor Party, a party which espouses

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

beliefs. In November 2009, the American Third Position Party filed papers with the office of the

Secretary of State of California The secretary of state of California is the chief clerk of the U.S. state of California, overseeing a department of 500 people. The secretary of state is elected for four year terms, like the state's other constitutional officers; the officeho ...

, with the intention of becoming a fully ballot-accessible party by the time of the June 2010 California

primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

. However, the party failed to qualify and was not entered on the 2010 ballot in California or any other state. The party received enough signatures to get Harry Bertram on the ballot for the

2011 West Virginia gubernatorial special election The 2011 West Virginia gubernatorial special election was a special election held on October 4, 2011, to fill the office of the West Virginia Governor, which became vacant when Joe Manchin resigned after he won a U.S. Senate special election ...

. Bertram's campaign ran a television ad emphasizing his desire to advance the interests of white Americans. Bertram was soundly defeated in the election, coming in last place out of 5 candidates on the ballot and netting only 1,111 votes; less than 0.4 percent of the total.

2012 presidential election

In January 2012, the American Third Position Party announced Merlin Miller as its presidential nominee for the

2012 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *3–4 January: ...

Virginia Abernethy Virginia Deane Abernethy (born 1934) is an American anthropologist, far-right activist, white nationalist, and self-described "ethnic separatist." She is professor emerita of psychiatry at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. She has publish ...

was announced as his running mate. According to an AmericanFreedomUnion.com posting, they obtained

ballot access Ballot access is rules and procedures regulating the right to candidacy, the conditions under which a candidate, political party, or ballot measure is entitled to appear on voters' ballots in elections in the United States. The jurisprudence o ...

in Colorado, New Jersey, and Tennessee.

2016 presidential election

Kenn Gividen was nominated by the party as its candidate for president and Bob Whitaker was nominated for vice president in March 2015. Gividen resigned from the nomination on July 26, 2015, after holding the role for 4 months; Whitaker then stepped into the role as candidate for president. Tom Bowie took Whitaker's place as the vice president candidate. Whitaker, whose favored term "

White Genocide The white genocide, white extinction, or white replacement conspiracy theory is a White nationalism, white nationalist conspiracy theory that claims there is a deliberate plot (often Antisemitic trope, blamed on Jews) to cause the extinction of ...

" was blocked by the AFP leadership, gave up the nomination on April 7, 2016, in protest over the party's growing support for

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

and the toning down of its use of language.

Electoral results

History

Origins

The party traces its roots to a California-based white power skinhead group that called itself "Freedom 14", a name partially derived from the

Fourteen Words "The Fourteen Words" (also abbreviated 14 or 1488) is a reference to two slogans originated by the American domestic terrorist David Eden Lane, one of nine founding members of the defunct white supremacist terrorist organization The Order (white ...

slogan created by neo-Nazi David Lane. In 2009, the members of Freedom 14 announced the creation of a new political party called the "Golden State Party" on Don Black's hate site Stormfront. When the

Orange County Register ''The Orange County Register'' is a paid daily List of newspapers in California, newspaper published in California. The ''Register'', published in Orange County, California, is owned by the private equity firm Alden Global Capital via its Digit ...

revealed that Golden State Party spokesperson Tyler Cole had felony assault and weapons charges, the group abandoned the name and formed American 3P, before changing the name again to American Third Position. When Bill Johnson took over the group, the name was changed to the American Freedom Party.

2012 hacking incident

In early February 2012, members of the hacker group

Anonymous Anonymous may refer to: * Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown ** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author * Anonym ...

released statements claiming to have hacked the website of the party and various forums and email accounts connected with the group, including that of

Jamie Kelso Jamie Kelso (June 8, 1948) is an American white supremacist and former Church of Scientology member of the Sea Org. He has hosted daily web radio programs, including ''The Jamie Kelso Show'' on the Voice of Reason Broadcast Network, and is a seni ...

, the website's operator. The front page of the party's website was defaced with #OpBlitzkrieg (the designated name used in January 2012 for a series of Anonymous cyber-attacks on German neo-Nazi websites) and private information about the organization's members was released.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Neo-fascist organizations in the United States 2010 establishments in the United States Far-right political parties in the United States Identity politics in the United States Nationalist parties in the United States Neo-fascist parties Organizations that oppose LGBTQ rights in the United States Paleoconservative parties in the United States Political parties established in 2010 Political parties in the United States Politics and race Right-wing populist parties Westminster, California White nationalism in California White nationalist parties