Samuel L. Blumenfeld, May 31, 1926 (New York, NY) - June 1, 2015 (Waltham, Mass.)
VP candidate for Taxpayers Party (aka US Taxpayers Party) (1996)
Running mate with nominee: Howard Jay Phillips (1941-2013)
Popular vote: 2,204 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538
The campaign:
The 1996 Presidential campaign for the US Taxpayers Party really begins with columnist, pundit, and speechwriter Pat Buchanan's bid for the Republican nomination. His surprisingly popular insurgent effort sounded the call for the forces of the rapidly growing hard Right and evangelical wings of the Republican Party. He called them his "Pitchfork Army" in the best of Populist demagogue traditions. Some of his critics called him "David Duke without the sheets" but the US Taxpayers Party really wanted Buchanan on their ticket and made no secret about it.
Howard Phillips, who basically was the US Taxpayers Party and had been the first Presidential nominee of the new party in 1992, watched as Buchanan gave Sen. Bob Dole a big scare early in the season but then bombed out on Super Tuesday in Mar. 1996 and suspended his campaign. This made Buchanan a free agent in the eyes of Phillips, who told a reporter, "My first choice is Pat Buchanan as an active candidate. My second choice is Pat Buchanan as an inactive candidate." The plan, if Buchanan was tied up, was to run someone else for President and still electioneer as the Party of Buchanan. Then, after they won the election, instruct the Electors to brush aside whatever name was officially in the ballot and cast their lots for Pat Buchanan.
For his part, Buchanan was playing coy and openly considered running in the third party if they gained ballot access in all 50 states (they didn't make it). He used that leverage to influence the Republican ticket, saying if Dole did not select a strong pro-life running-mate, then maybe a Party of Buchanan wouldn't be such a bad idea. Dole's subsequent selection of Rep. Jack Kemp was apparently sufficient and Buchanan came on board and endorsed the Republican ticket. So that was the end of that.
So once again the new party turned to Howard Phillips as the Presidential nominee. It would be the second of three runs for him. He described his long range plans for the US Taxpayers Party: "Our main constituencies are pro-lifers, home-schoolers and those concerned with the expansion of government. We want to establish a firm enough position so that as the Republican Party dissolves, as I believe it will, ours will be seen as an alternative."
Platform issues included: Balancing the Federal budget "immediately" -- abolishing the IRS, Dept. of Education, NEA, HUD, ATF, CIA -- Pull the US out of the UN, NATO, NAFTA, GATT -- Impose a moratorium on immigration -- Oppose abortion -- Support states' rights
Phillips opposed what he called the "Satanzation of America." He wrote, "The goal of the New World Order is to remove God from His throne and replace Him with power-seekers who desire not freedom UNDER God, but freedom FROM GOD." He also said, "My comprehensive object is to restore American jurisprudence to its biblical presuppositions and the federal government to its constitutional boundaries."
The campaign had some support from other third parties. The American Independent Party in California had become an affiliate and would remain so for the next decade. The Right to Life in New York, which had endorsed the Republicans in 1992, backed Phillips in 1996. The Concerned Citizens Party, based in Connecticut, signed on as well.
In Kentucky only, Phillips' stand-in running-mate was Samuel Blumenfeld. Blumenfeld was a critic of the American educational system and was an early activist in the home school movement.
Blumenfeld had the kind of conservative credentials that epitomized the USTP. He was a staunch anti-communist connected with the John Birch Society and co-founded the spinoff group Jewish Society of Americanists. He doubted the theories of Darwin, embraced the anti-vaccination movement, and railed against globalism and the "New World Order."
In 2004, Blumenfeld reflected on the USTP and the 1996 campaign: "The Taxpayers Party had its great moment back in 1996, when there was the chance that Patrick Buchanan would bolt the Republican Party and become the Presidential candidate of the Taxpayers Party. In fact, both the conventions of the Republican Party and the Taxpayers Party took place in San Diego at the same time, which made it easy for Buchanan to make his dramatic move and switch parties had he wanted to. But he didn't. And so the great opportunity to put the Taxpayers Party on the front pages of America came and went. Buchanan didn't want to be blamed for a Dole defeat. In the end, the lackluster, non-charismatic, erectile dysfunctional Dole was beaten by the charming, sexy (and erectile functional) Bill Clinton."
The Phillips/Blumenfeld ticket took 0.16% of the popular vote in the Bluegrass State.
Election history: none
Other occupations: US Army (WWII), author, editor, teacher, lecturer, publisher, poet, radio host
Buried: Massachusetts National Cemetery (Bourne, Mass.)
Notes:
Parents and older siblings came to the US from Poland.
Was pro-Marlowe in the Shakespeare authorship question.
Supported Goldwater in 1964.
"You don't need puppets popping out of trash cans to teach children how to read"--Samuel L.
Blumenfeld.
This brief profile was posted one day before what would have been Blumenfeld's 94th birthday.
