1992
1996
Vinton Douglas Tompkins, November 29, 1948 (Boston, Mass.) -
VP candidate for Natural Law Party (aka Independent aka Unenrolled aka Nonpartisan) (1992, 1996, 2000)
Running mate with nominee (1992, 1996, 2000): John Samuel Hagelin (b. 1954)
Popular vote (1992): 38,780 (0.04%)
Popular vote (1996): 113,670 (0.12%)
Popular vote (2000): 3,988 (0.00%)
Electoral vote (1992, 1996, 2000): 0/538
The campaign (1992):
The Natural Law Party was an astonishingly fast-growing transnational organization in the 1990s. Although Party leaders denied it, it appeared the NLP was acting as the political arm for followers of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and his Transcendental Meditation movement as it established itself in a number of countries and ran hundreds of candidates for public office. Although the Maharashi described TM as a "path to God," supporters insisted it was not a religious movement. Critics called it a pseudoscience or even a cult. We Boomers remember Maharishi Mahesh Yogi as the subject of the Beatles' song "Sexy Sadie," written after John Lennon had become disillusioned by the guru.
In the United States the NLP seemed to come out of nowhere late in the 1992 campaign season and within a very short time established itself in the top tier of the third parties. Since they already had a pre-existing organized network of followers, they were able to mobilize quite rapidly, not unlike how the evangelicals united for Reagan in 1980.
The NLP nominated physicist John Hagelin of Maharishi University of Management for President and his colleague Vinton D. "Mike" Tompkins as his running mate. Both listed their residences as being in Fairfield, Iowa, which would have posed a Constitutional problem in the event of an electoral victory.
The NLP seemed to say that all problems could be solved, directly or indirectly, if the population embraced TM. In doing so, they stressed how their solutions were "scientifically proven," which in some ways really made this more of a debate for peer reviewed journals than in the political realm. "Americans, as enlightened people," a dubious premise posed as Tompkins continued, "need a political system that is knowledge-based. Natural Law supports principles of intelligence and order in the political system, just as it does in nature ... We believe that all solutions already exist and can be scientifically proven."
Tompkins, who was very active on the campaign trail, told a reporter the role of Transcendental Meditation in the "scientifically proven" process: "Two hundred university studies found Transcendental Meditation has a profound effect on improving health and intelligence. We support it-- in rehabilitation of criminals .. as a powerful strategy in health care ... and as a component in education."
The NLP proposed subjecting all incarcerated criminals to TM. They also promised: " ... The first thing the Natural Law Party will do once elected is create a group of 7,000 experts in Washington (approximately the square root of one percent of the world's population) to re-enliven natural law in national consciousness and to create a life-supporting, harmonious atmosphere in which our government can more effectively govern the nation."
They also wanted to replace Medicaid with a new government health care system, create a national apprenticeship program, end the use of fossil fuels, and abolish the Electoral College. On litmus hot button issues like gun control, abortion, and capital punishment, the NLP sidestepped these controversies by saying that once in office and TM has been nationally implemented for at least six months, the USA could vote on these topics in a national referendum.
Tompkins was quoted by the press, "People who serve in public office should be those who display the most coherent brain activity in the whole population. They should have EEG testing done to show the level of coherence that their brain activity has."
I'll be blatantly subjective here. I recall in 1992 reading their literature, and not being one who is inclined to follow movements selling Enlightenment, I had a difficult time grasping the specifics of their platform. My initial impression of the NLP was that of an enormous sales pitch for a corporate New Age business enterprise, what we call today "Spiritual Capitalism." Members of the Party continually denied they were a TM party, but it was not easy getting past their terminology which was that of an encapsulated community. They struck me as a group of well educated, well meaning inoffensive white people who had an unusual political third party organization in the sense they did not seem to demonize any perceived opponents.
During the window of time when Ross Perot dropped out of the race and had not yet re-entered the fray, the NLP was apparently successful in gathering signatures for ballot acccess from disaffected voters who had their hopes dashed but still wanted to support a third alternative.
On the ballot in 28 states + DC, the Hagelin/Tompkins ticket had a remarkable popular vote result considering they were novices with a very new party. They finished in 8th place in an election with two dozen options on the ballots. In Iowa, their headquarters, they actually placed 4th after Perot. Strongest results: Iowa 0.23%, Utah 0.18%, Alaska 0.17%, Arizona 0.15%, South Dakota 0.13%, Mississippi 0.12%, Hawaii ; Vermont ; Washington 0.11% each, District of Columbia ; Nebraska ; New Mexico 0.10% each. They also had significant write-in efforts in most of the states where they were not listed, with the highest local percentages in California, Indiana, Kansas, Oregon, and Wyoming.
The campaign (1996):
The same Hagelin/Tompkins ticket ran in 1996, but this time with a much earlier start, a larger campaign war chest, and with a more ambitious ballot access goal than the previous election. They had hundreds of candidates running for office across the country. Although the platform was basically the same, Transcendental Meditation was not as openly touted as a panacea as it was in 1992. Also, the impression was that the NLP went to great pains not to offend any constituency.
Tompkins described their place in the political grid: "The message is fresh; it's new. It's new ideas, new solutions. It's not the same old tug of war between the liberal and conservatives at the two ends of a one-dimensional spectrum ... I would say we're not left, right or center. I'd say we're introducing a new element. It's like if the problem is darkness, you've got to switch on the light."
Dropping the national public referendum idea on abortion and gun control, the NLP in 1996 took a moderate position on both.
As in 1992, the NLP distinguished itself among all the political parties by running a positive campaign without attack ads or negative electioneering, demonstrating that they did walk their talk to a certain degree. And it looked as if it paid off for them given their popular vote results.
Advancing to a 7th place finish in 1996 they basically tripled their 1992 result. On the ballot in 44 states + DC and significant write-ins in Florida and Indiana, they saw their strongest results in: Montana 0.43%, Idaho 0.33%, Alaska 0.30%, Wyoming 0.28%, Iowa ; Washington 0.27% each, Massachusetts ; Ohio ; Oregon 0.20% each.
The campaign (2000):
Hagelin was running for a third time for President in 2000, but what exact party and who the running-mates were takes some sorting out.
As early as November 1999, Mike Tompkins was campaigning in Ohio, identified as the NLP VP. As late as August 2000, when Hagelin was fighting Pat Buchanan for the Reform Party of the United States of America nomination, Tompkins was called the former's running-mate in Iowa. In the same month, when Hagelin was removed from the Indiana ballot as the Reform Party candidate, Tompkins was listed on the ticket. A Hagelin/Tompkins NLP 2000 campaign button was even produced.
But something happened and I could not find any sources that spelled it out.
It was in August 2000 that Hagelin told the press he was considering either Silicon Valley multimillionaire entrepreneur Amos Nathaniel "Nat" Goldhaber as his running-mate, or NASA scientist Bob Bowman. This was right after Pat Buchanan was declared the official Reform Party nominee, a nomination disputed by Hagelin. So at a parallel splinter group Reform Party convention, Goldhaber was nominated as Hagelin's VP. Two weeks later Goldhaber was officially nominated the second spot at the NLP convention as well. Shortly after all of this, the FEC granted the Reform Party nomination to Buchanan, along with the matching funds.
Still, Tompkins ended up on the ballot with Hagelin in two states. In Massachusetts they were presented as "Unenrolled" and gained 0.11% of the vote. In Missouri the Hagelin/Tompkins ticket, under the NLP banner, had 0.05%.
Laura Ticciati was on the ballot with Hagelin in Kansas, Louisiana, and New Jersey. In several other states Hagelin was on the ballot with no VP at all.
Overall the NLP finished with 83,710 votes (0.08%) in 2000, a decline from their 1996 finish. It was their final nationwide election effort. The Party eventually scattered into local chapters, with Michigan remaining the most active.
In 2004 the NLP endorsed Rep. Dennis Kucinich in the Democratic Party primaries.
Election history: none
Other occupations: associate director of the Institute of Science Technology and Public Policy, author, editor
Notes:
Ph.D. in Science of Creative Intelligence, from Maharishi European Research University, 1984.
Called "Mike" because he looked like the derogatory caricature pug-nose "Black Irishman" when an
infant.
Last known to be living in India.
Probably no doubt while repeating a long held family story, Tompkins was touted as a direct
descendant of President John Adams, President John Quincy Adams, and Vice-President Daniel
Tompkins. However online genealogical sources have different information. From what I found, if
the sources are reliable, Tompkins is actually a cousin to both Presidents, the closest shared direct
family connection being Joseph Adams Jr., the grandfather of our second President, John Adams,
which is still pretty darn close. All of this also means Tompkins is related to two other third party
Vice-Presidential candidates, Charles Francis Adams Sr. (Free Soil Party 1848) and John Quincy
Adams II (Straight-Out Democratic Party 1872). No word if he is also related to third party VPs
Douglas Glenn Adams (Anti-Doughnut Party 1984) or Megan A. Adams (Independent 1992). As for
Vice-President Daniel Tompkins (who served under President Monroe) being a direct ancestor, the
sources say that is not the case. I ran across "family story vs. fact" quite frequently when I assisted
people during my librarian days. It is pretty common, even in my own family.
