Minor parties - fringe and nutbar

To complete the profiles of the parties holding seats in the 48th Congress and contesting the 49th Congress election, the following parties are little more than fringe groups, one-trick ponies that campaign on only one issue, or simply nutbars that game Patria's system of proportional representation and manage to gain a seat or two.

Family Values Party - An old-line social conservative party that broke away from the National Union in 1997, charging that the NU was too concerned with macho values rather than social conservatism and traditional family values (e.g. hard-core homophobia; the FVP's main slogan is "Healthy, Happy, Heterosexual"). Along with believing that homosexuality can be cured with psychotherapy and/or born-again Christianity, the FVP would like to return Patria to a neo-1950's "Leave It To Beaver" era when men were breadwinners, women stayed home with the kids, and gays stayed in the closet.

Party for Personal Responsibility - Formerly the Party for Fiscal Responsibility, the PPR was another breakaway party from the National Union in 1997-98. Originally a one-issue party of strict economic conservatism whose mantras are "Pay down the deficit, cut social spending, cut taxes", the PPR has added personal responsibility - both economic and social - to its one-issue platform.

Lilith Party - Also a new party for 1998, the Lilith Party is a women's party founded to counter the macho National Union. Taking its name from the Lilith Fair all-women music festival held near Toronto in 1997, Lilith mainly attracts hard-core feminists (i.e. those who spell women as "womyn"), out-of-the-closet lesbians, and teenage girls attracted by the slogan "the Grrrrls Party". Anita Bryants and Margaret Thatchers are not welcome in Lilith!

Rationalist Party - Launched in 2001, the Rationalist Party of Patria was established as a protest against the Hindu bloc. The Rationalists are not only strictly secular and advocate separation of church and state but actively encourage atheism. Their main slogan is "Reason not Religion, Science not Spirit". The Rationalists have also adopted some of the "Objectivist" philosophy of Ayn Rand. Among the Rationalist Party caucus are Dagny Taggart and John Galt, the heroes of Atlas Shrugged.

Freedom Party - A new party for the 2006 elections, the Freedom Party was intended to be a successor to the Patriots' Party, which surprisingly received a good chunk of protest votes in 1994 with its "Raise the flag, raise your fist, RISE UP!" slogan. Like its Patriot predecessor, the Freedom Party is a far-right, openly anti-Semitic party, dedicated to preserving free speech, particularly defending politically incorrect websites or "anything the Jews don't like" against censorship. This fun bunch of brown-shirted or white-hooded guys (and perhaps a few girls) claim to be "Patria's only pro-white party".

Chastity Party - The second new party to hit the 48th Congress campaign trail in 2006, the Chastity Party is another one-issue party: fight pre-marital sex, "Just say no until you say I do" is the Chastity Party's slogan, probably inspired by a bumper sticker spotted in Red-State Bible-Belt America.

Several other minor parties hold one or two seats in Congress. Among them are an assortment of New Age splinter groups, the Lazurian Independent Party (which advocates the Precinct of Lazuria's independence from Patria), and the National Democratic Union and Peoples' Party - the last remnants of the pre-1990 liberal centrists swept away by the Dharmic Revolution.