George Dennis Du Vall, January 1, 1942 (Missoula, Mont.) -
VP candidate for United States Pacifist Party (aka US Pacifist Party) (2012)
Running mate with nominee: Bradford Lyttle (b. 1927)
Popular vote: ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
Bradford Lyttle is a Chicago-based peace activist who has been involved with nonviolent resistance protest of America's militarism since the 1950s, when he served nine months in jail as a conscientious objector. He had been a perennial write-in candidate for President since 1984 but seldom was found on any ballots.
His running-mate for 2012 was Dennis Duvall, aka George Dennis Du Vall, aka Denny DuVall. A product of the Pacific Northwest and a Vietnam era veteran, Duvall had a long history of being hauled into court and occasionally jailed for performing acts of civil disobedience to bring attention to various corporate abuses of power, and also protesting the existence of the military-industrial complex. He moved to Prescott, Ariz. in 1991.
Lyttle is also known as the author of the "Apocalypse Equation," a theory that if believed must surely add a sense of urgency to his efforts--
The Apocalypse Equation, (technically called a "stochastic equation," because it describes the relationship of probability to time) shows what nuclear weapons ultimately mean for "civilization." If each of a large number (n) of nuclear missiles existing today has even a small probability (p) of being launched, over time (T) the probability of a launch (APocalypse) approaches certainty. The more missiles, the shorter the time before a launch (T1 is less than T2). Unless nuclear weapons are deactivated, and nonviolent means developed to take the place of military violence for achieving justice and peace, civilization is doomed.
The USPP spelled out their platform on the 2012 webpage--
2012 Platform (Ver. 090612)
The United States Pacifist Party (USPP) rejects military force as a means of resolving international disputes. USPP members believe that military force violates the moral principles of the world’s great humanitarian religions and philosophies, and is a “Faustian bargain,” that may achieve short range political objectives, but only at the cost of long-term catastrophe for the human species. They believe that nonviolent resistance, as developed by Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and others, and massive economic aid programs to eliminate poverty worldwide, are appropriate and effective ways to resist aggression and tyranny. Major planks of the USPP’s 2008 plafform include:
International Relations
Immediate withdrawal of all military forces from Iraq.
Immediate withdrawal of all military forces from Afghanistan. Ending of drone attacks and night raids on people in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yeman;
Preparation for nonviolent resistance against possible invasion and occupation attempts; This would include establishment of a national Department of Peace, and an unarmed service corps trained in strategic nonviolent defense and equipped for mobilization anywhere in the world;
Deactivation of all nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons;
Elimination of the Strategic Defense initiative;
Abolition of all aspects of the Selective Service System;
Complete disarmament, through negotiations and unilateral actions;
An end to all overt and covert military aid operations;
Repeal of the Patriot Act;
Reduction of the military budget toward zero;
Immediate termination of all foreign military aid. Humanitarian foreign aid would be directed toward helping the poor meet their basic human needs and become self sufficient. Aid to foreign governments generally would be contingent upon exemplary human rights records. When serious human rights violations are suspected, any aid given would be distributed by trustworthy agencies;
Establishment of a massive economic aid program to abolish poverty, hunger, disease, homelessnesss and ignorance at home and worldwide. The aid would be administered by the United Nations;
Normalization of relations with Cuba. Repeal of the Helms burton Act, that permits lawsuits against individuals and firms who make use of land and facilities in Cuba that were nationalized by the Cuban government;
Support for legitimate, nonviolent, social change movements that are struggling to advance human rights and political freedom;
Support for one-person-one-vote democratic world government;
The Environment
Inauguration of a crash program to stop and reverse global warming. This would emphasize promotion of active and passive, decentralized, solar power systems that would provide sufficient, free, electrical energy for everyone on earth. It would make only limited and tightly controlled use of fossil fueled plants. Nuclear power plants would be shut down, and all nuclear and fusion energy research would be placed under international control;
Establishment of a strongly funded program to improve fresh water supplies in this country and throughout the world. This program would include extensive research on desalination techniques, so that the burden of providing fresh water, particularly to metropolitan and industrial areas, can be lifted from sources such as fresh water rivers, lakes, and aquifers;
Ending of private logging, grazing, and oil drilling on public lands;
Special taxes on polluting industries to provide incentives for reducing pollution, and revenue for funding other environmental protection programs;
Health Care
Creation of a Canadian-style, single-payer national health care system with universal access, comprehensive coverage, and freedom of choice in the selection of doctors, medical facilites, and methods of treatment;
Immigration
Unrestricted immigration. Health and educations needs of immigrants would be paid for from the billions of dollars saved by closing the military system;
Domestic Economy
Full employment through private enterprises, cooperatives, worker-controlled and managed industries, and federally administered public projects;
A guaranteed minimum income for U.S. citizens through the establishment of a negative income tax (A negative income tax gives checks to people whose income lies below the poverty level);
Repeal of the Taft-Hartley anti-union law.
Civil Liberties and Civil Rights
Opposition to all forms of racial, sexual, and religious discrimination, and all unjust socio economic barriers;
Abolition of the death penalty;
Abolition of torture;
Ban on the manufacture, sale, and possession of handguns and assault weapons;
Support for national and international family planning programs. Establishment of adoption and other agencies for insuring that all children receive loving care;
Support for a Constitutional amendment banning discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual orientation;
Opposition to any restrictions on the right to freedom of travel and migration across U.S. borders;
Election Reform
Limitation of campaign spending. Establishment of fair and open ballot access laws. Establishment of public campaign financing and provision of equal access to public television and radio for all ballot-certified candidates;
Support for the principle of proportional representation in national elections.
It seems Lyttle did not register with the FEC, nor did he become a write-in in any state.
For the 2016 campaign the USPP had modified their name to Nonviolent Resistance/Pacifist Party.
Election history: none
Other occupations: US Air Force (Vietnam War), truck driver, Anti-nuclear activist in the Crabshell Alliance 1976-1980, VISTA volunteer in the Citizen Action Light Brigade 1980-82, Executive Director of Citizens for the Improvement of Nursing Homes 1983-1988, tour and shuttle bus driver at the Grand Canyon 1995-2000.
Notes:
PNW trivia alert!!! Portland State College, 1968. Attended the University of Washington, 1970-1973. Lived in Washington 1970-1991 including Seattle and Vashon Island.
