The Personal Choice Party (PCP) was a

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political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

whose presidential candidate for 2004 qualified for the ballot in the state of

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. The first State Convention of the Personal Choice Party of Utah was held May 22, 2004, at Fairmont Park in

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

. The Personal Choice Party dates back to approximately 1997, and was organized by Dr.

Ken Larsen Ken or KEN may refer to: Entertainment * ''Ken'' (album), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer. * ''Ken'' (film), 1964 Japanese film. * ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine. * Ken Masters, a main character in ...

, an ex-

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from

with a

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from

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. Prior to forming the Personal Choice Party, Larsen was known as a political activist and frequent candidate for numerous political offices in Utah under the ballot lines of several minor parties including the

Libertarian Party Active parties by country Defunct parties by country Organizations associated with Libertarian parties See also * Liberal parties by country * List of libertarian organizations * Lists of political parties Lists of political part ...

and the Independent American Party. The party dissolved after the 2006 elections, and Larsen returned to the Libertarian Party, which nominated him for Governor of Utah in 2012.

Philosophy

The Personal Choice Party asserted that everyone has

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and

individual rights Group rights, also known as collective rights, are rights held by a group '' qua'' a group rather than individually by its members; in contrast, individual rights are rights held by individual people; even if they are group-differentiated, which ...

. PCP expresses the philosophy of "live and let live." and demands that, "as long as I am not hurting anyone else, only I have the right to choose how I spend my time, my wealth, my life, my honor." It could be considered a libertarian party. The preamble of the party's constitution – which specifies that it is the personal opinion of the party's founders – states:

Issues

PCP supports drastic reductions in government. Many other positions have been attributed to PCP; however, PCP emphasizes that these positions are those of individual PCP members and not those of the party as a whole.

Principal figures

Charles Jay The Boston Tea Party (BTP) was a United States political party named after the event known as the Boston Tea Party of 1773. The political party's ideology was libertarian. A group of former Libertarian Party (LP) members founded the party i ...

, 2004 Presidential nominee, and former candidate for 2004

Vice President * Marilyn Chambers Taylor, 2004 United States Vice-Presidential nominee * Ken Larsen, Moderator (as opposed to Chairman), Utah Gubernatorial candidate

Other election campaigns

The Personal Choice Party also ran candidates in the Utah 2004 senate elections and two of Utah’s three 2004 house elections. In these races, Republican incumbents were all reelected. PCP candidates Joe Labonte (United States Senate), Richard Soderberg (Utah United States House First District) and Curtis James (Utah United States House Third District) each received 1% of the vote. The Personal Choice Party also ran candidates in some Utah elections in 2006. Its most notable candidate, Roger Ira Price, who ran for the United States Senate in 2006, received 1.6% of the vote. The party also ran candidates in some state legislature races. The most any candidate received was 4% of the vote. Some controversy was caused when it was alleged that some voters were confused by the party's positive name, including its smiley-face logo, which appeared on voting machines which, in Utah, give the option for voters to vote for all candidates in one political party at the same time. The party received 14% of the single-party votes in Salt Lake County, which some believe was caused by this confusion. However, many of these voters apparently voted for other candidates before officially submitting their vote. Party founder Larsen said that there was no confusion, mentioning that in 2004 and 2005 12% of Utah taxpayers agreed to donate $2 to the Personal Choice Party on their tax forms, though the party did not accept the funds.

References

External links

* {{Utah political parties 1997 establishments in Utah 2006 disestablishments in the United States Political parties established in 1997 Political parties disestablished in 2006 Defunct political parties in the United States Defunct libertarian parties in the United States Political parties in the United States