sional wrestler and suburban mayor Jesse Ventura
won the support of one of the more robust state Re-
form Party organizations in a run for governor. His
outspoken advocacy of ideas like smaller classes in
public schools, a light-rail system for the Twin Cities,
freezing property taxes, and a medical approach to
drug addiction came as a fresh approach to politics.
The entire nation was shocked when he won Minne-
sota’s governorship in 1998. Ventura’s victory was
largely attributed to his appeal to younger voters and
to working-class citizens, who liked his combination
of fiscal sobriety and a libertarian stance on cultural
issues. Elsewhere, there were several Reform Party
candidates for Congress and for local offices in 1998,
but they had little success.
The prospect of $12 million in federal matching
funds led to a contentious struggle for the party’s
2000 presidential nomination. Ventura’s victory
made him a major force within the party, but he de-
clined to run, throwing his support to Jack Gargan,
the “godfather” of early movement efforts. Mean-
while, pundit Pat Buchanan set out to capture the
party’s nomination. He brought his own supporters
into the party, added goals drawn from his own isola-
tionist hard-right ideology, and outmaneuvered sev-
eral attempts to stop him with short-lived candida-
cies such as that of entrepreneur Donald Trump.
Neutralizing both the Perot and the Ventura fac-
tions, Buchanan entered the 2000 presidential elec-
tion season as the Reform Party’s candidate. Bu-
chanan succeeded in turning the party’s platform in
a totally different direction from its “radical center”
origins and presided over its disintegration as a force
in the nation’s political life.
Impact At its height, the Reform Party served the
traditional function of American third parties:
bringing neglected issues into the mainstream and
forcing the major parties to confront them. Presi-
dent Bill Clinton’s deficit-reduction measures were,
arguably, made possible by the Reform Party’s high-
lighting of the problem. Others among the party’s is-
sues, however, remained unaddressed or even wors-
ened.
The party’s meteoric rise and successes also
showed the gap between many citizens’ expectations
and the “issues” that most politicians want to talk
about. Even after the party’s near-demise, this gap
remains, perhaps providing ammunition for future
reform efforts.
Further Reading
Edwards, Tamala M. “The Ventura Way: If It Isn’t
Fun, I Quit.”Time, August 9, 1991, p. 8. Reporting
from the trenches of the party’s national conven-
tion, showing the rivalries and stresses that
shaped its downfall.
Jelen, Ted G., ed.Ross for Boss: The Perot Phenomenon
and Beyond.Albany: State University of New York
Press, 2001. A collection of articles on aspects of
Perot’s campaigns and on the Jesse Ventura phe-
nomenon.
Sifry, Micah L.Spoiling for a Fight: Third Party Politics
in America.New York: Routledge, 2002. Examines
the rise and fall of the Reform Party and other
third parties that sprang up during the 1990’s.
Emphasizes the forces working against the party’s
long-term survival.
Emily AlwardSee also Balanced Budget Act of 1997; Buchanan,
Pat; Bush, George H. W.; Business and the economy
in the United States; Clinton, Bill; Elections in the
United States, midterm; Elections in the United
States, 1992; Elections in the United States, 1996;
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA);
Perot, H. Ross; Stockdale, James; Ventura, Jesse. Religion and spirituality in
Canada
Identification Organized and nonorganized
expressions of spiritual belief and practice
among CanadiansTraditionally characterized by the Roman Catholic, Angli-
can, and United Church of Canada denominations, reli-
gion in Canada in the 1990’s also embraced an increasing
variety of religious faiths and spiritualities.Reflecting a long-term trend, Canada’s religious life
in the 1990’s was marked by its increasing pluralism,
sharing the increasing multiculturalism of Canada.
At the same time, there was a seeming decline in for-
mal religious membership, accompanied by a re-
duced role for the religious perspective in civic life.Demographics of Religion Unlike the United States,
Canada asks about religious preference in its census
data. The 1991 Canadian census indicated that Ca-
nadians were 45 percent Roman Catholic, 35 per-708 Religion and spirituality in Canada The Nineties in America