very special interest groups

American League of Lobbyists
What is it?: Lobby for lobbyists. Refers to its 600 members as "citizen representatives" and "information providers." Cites the First Amendment frequently, particularly its right to "petition the government for redress of grievances." Organizes annual charity basketball game against members of Congress. Current Issues: (1) The group has asked security officials to restore to lobbyists the same free-wheeling access to the Capitol they had before September 11 (they now must have an appointment to get in). Before the attacks, many lobbyists carried Building Access Cards, or BACs-also known colloquially as Buying a Congressman Cards. (2) Presidential candidate John Edwards, a former trial lawyer, has called for a ban on campaign contributions from registered lobbyists. A former league president responded, "Why not ban contributions from trial lawyers?"

Americans for a Society Free of Age Restrictions
What is it? Founded in 1996 by a University of Maryland student, the 1200-member society fights for the rights of minors. Current issues: ASFAR wants to abolish the age requirements for voting, buying porn, obtaining loans or credit cards, having sex, gambling, and driving and renting a car. The group also believes that physical punishment should be considered assault, that curfews should be eliminated and that school attendance should be voluntary.

Americans for Common Cents
What is it? ACC fights to keep the penny in circulation. Its 50 members
include coin collectors, zinc and copper miners and charities that rely on loose change. Current Issues: ACC argues that killing the penny would lead to higher prices, hurt the poor and eliminate the $25 million in profit the U.S. Mint earns each year on production. "The alternative to the penny is rounding," says executive director Mark Weller.

Americans for Customary Weight and Measure
What is it? Founded in 1978 by Seaver Leslie, an artist in Maine who serves as its director, the group lobbies to prevent the U.S. from converting to the metric system. Leslie believes most voters recognize metrics as a "European fad." The group's chief nemesis (besides the U.S. government, which has been pushing metrics since the early 1800s) is the American National Metric Council, whose 150 members are mostly business people. Besides the U.S., the only countries that don't use metrics are Liberia and Myanmar. Current Issues: Lobbies Congress to repeal of a 1988 law that made metric the standard for commerce and requires federal agencies to use it. "The foot will prevail because of its practicality, accuracy and poetry," Leslie says.

Confederate National Congress
What is it? The congress is a project of the Confederate Society of America, which believes the federal government has no jurisdiction over the 13 southern states, in part because Jefferson Davis never officially surrendered. The CSA, which claims it was founded in 1865 and has two million members, lobbies to reestablish the government-in-exile, issues passports and citizenship papers and shares poetry. Current Issues: The congress is currently on hold pending liberation. But should the campaign succeed, this won't be your great-great-grandfather's breakaway nation. While some aspects of the society will be vaguely familiar (in lieu of taxes, residents will pay a fee to vote), its proposed constitution includes this provision: "The institution of slavery, having passed into history, shall not be reinstated."

Daylight Savings Time Coalition
What is it? A project of Washington lobbyist James Benfield, the coalition campaigned for years to extend Daylight Savings Time by several weeks on both ends. Benfield argued that this would save energy, reduce traffic accidents and allow people to spend more time outside, which attracted members such as associations that represented amateur softball, barbecue makers, convenience stores, service stations, restaurants and sporting goods. Current Issues: Before his death in 2002, Benfield saw his campaign come to fruition, somewhat. In 1987 Congress extended daylight savings from the third Sunday to the first Sunday in April. The coalition then pushed, without success, for an extension to the last Sunday in March and from the last Sunday in October to the first Sunday in November. The only states that don't observe daylight savings are Arizona, Hawaii and parts of Indiana, where the Hoosier Daylight Coalition is lobbying for consistency.

Expansionist Party of the United States
What is it? Based in Newark, the party was founded in 1977 by Craig Schoonmaker, its chairman and final authority, who claims 650 followers. Schoonmaker's goal is to annex as many countries as are willing to abide by the U.S. Constitution. "If nations don't have a good reason to exist, they shouldn't," he says. "Does Canada have a good reason? No." The party would have the U.S. invite Canada, the Philippines, Mexico, Panama, the West Indies, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Britain to join the Union after a 10- or 20-year transition period. In addition, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the Caribbean would be combined into the 51st state, and Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Marianas would become part of Hawaii. Current Issues: The party proposes eliminating tenured civil servants, making voting mandatory and increasing the number of Congressmen to 1,175 from 435. Its global agenda, however, may not make the prospect of joining the U.S. so appealing. Schoonmaker would end support for Israel and scatter unpious Jews around the Third World, reduce troop levels by firing all women except nurses and secretaries, relocate poor urban residents to newly created cities in remote areas, forbid elective abortion and expand the justice system to amputate hands after a third conviction. On a more populist note, Schoonmaker would limit phone sex charges to the toll plus 25 cents, abolish tipping and ban penny-off pricing, e.g. $9.99.

Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership
What is it? Although Aaron Zelman founded JPFO to rally Jews around the Second Amendment (gun control is sinful in that it "makes the state your god"), he says his 7000 members now come from all religious persuasions. The group's major theme is that a disarmed citizenry leads to genocides such as the Holocaust. Zelman quotes Hitler, who in 1938 limited private gun ownership in Germany: "History teaches that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by doing so." Current Issues: Zelman talks a good fight. He criticizes Jews who support gun control for their "ghetto Jew mentality" and once invited a psychiatrist to explain in the JPFO newsletter how gun-control activists have a "mental condition"-they irrationally project their fears of violence onto firearms, leading to rage. This past year JPFO filed a brief in support of a challenge to California's assault weapon ban. It also posted criticism of a proposal to equip every bullet sold with a radio-frequency chip that would identify its owner.

Lucy Stone League
What is it? Founded in 1921, the league campaigns to have women not give up their surnames when they marry, a practice the group considers to be a form of sex discrimination. The Jane Roe of the cause was a woman born Wendy Forbush who in 1972 was denied a driver's license because she wanted to use her maiden name (the Supreme Court told the DMV to give it up). On a grander scale, the league pushes for "name freedom"-the right of a person to choose any name. Notably, only seven states allow a man to take his wife's name at marriage without going to court. Current Issues: It's an uphill battle. Only 2 percent of newly married women keep their names, while another 10 percent hyphenate. The league presses its case at its website, where visitors share their stories, such as the newlyweds who both took the maiden name of the groom's mother. It suggests various ways to address the issue, such as combining names (Clinton and Rodham become Clintham or Rodton), giving boys the father's name and girls the mother's, or flipping a coin. It also lobbies against post-September 11 efforts in some states to make changing your name more difficult.

Naval Submarine League
What is it? The league, which has 4000 members, pushes for continued spending on subs, which it considers vital to national security. It focuses on bringing defense contractors, submariners, legislators and Navy officials together. Current Issues: The NSL supports the Navy's request to Congress that it be allowed to order several subs at once to add to its fleet of 66 ("multiyear procurement") instead of requesting and paying for a single sub each year. The hope is that the economies of scale will reduce the $2 billion price tag for each ship without sacrificing quality. "You do not want a cheap submarine," says director Mickey Garverick. The Navy also has plans to remove the missiles on some Tridents to transform them into troop ships. Finally, there has been debate over whether women should be assigned to sub duty: The league has no official position, but Garverick says most members oppose it.

Prohibition National Committee
What is it? Founded in 1869, the party lobbies to ban the manufacture or sale of liquor, which is considers the root of much evil. Its crowning achievement was the Eighteenth Amendment. But interest in temperance has fallen off. In 1892 the Prohibitionist candidate for president received 271,000 votes, or 2 percent of the electorate. In 2000 the candidate got 208 votes. The next year the first party candidate to be elected to any office since 1959 won an assessor's seat in Thompson Township in Fulton County, Pennsylvania. Current Issues: In 2002 the party split after bickering over its finances, with five-time presidential candidate Earl Dodge and his family retaining the official website and the defectors forming the Partisan Prohibition Historical Society. Both continue to recruit non-drinking, reform-minded conservatives. Dodge insists that prohibition is far from a lost cause, pointing out that voters have made many counties in the country dry, mostly in the Bible Belt.

Society for the Eradication of Television
What is it? In 1974 the television in Mary Dixon's home broke. When it wasn't fixed immediately, Dixon noticed that her family talked and read more. She founded SETS based on her belief that TV retards inner life and squanders time. Dixon died in 2002 but the society continues to maintain a website that greets visitors with the sound of a TV being broken. It also maintains a speaker's bureau, but only for radio programs. Current Issues: The society, which has 700 members, encourages the 98 percent of Americans who own a set not only to turn it off but to destroy it or turn it into a functional object such as a flower pot (selling the TV passes on the problem). In 1989 Dear Abby condemned the group's stand as unAmerican. "The television may provide some folks with the only human voice they hear for days."

more special groups

Citizens Against Foreign Control of America
Proposes that Congress ban foreign ownership of any property in U.S.

Communist Party of the USA
Seeks to achieve a socialist society. Founded 1919. Dues $12 annually.

Dentists for Life
Dentists opposed to abortion, euthanasia and infanticide. Members provide free dental care and housing to unwed expectant mothers.

International Philosophers for the Prevention of Nuclear Omnicide
Works to prevent the end of the world with dialogue among philosophers.

Libertarian Futurist Society
Futurists and sci-fi fans who share a concern for individual freedom.

Life Insurance Committee for Social Responsibility
Agents pushing for a nuclear weapons freeze, a cleaner environment and reduced drug use.

Llama Rescue Net
"Aims to respond to situations in which the well-being of one or more llamas is compromised."

Reagan Alumni Association
Political appointees in the Reagan/ Bush administration and full or
part-time staff in the campaigns who seek to "advance the Reagan agenda." Offers job placement services. Founded 1987.

STOPP International
Works for the elimination of Planned Parenthood.

United Fascist Union
"Individuals interested in preserving law and order and guiding humanity into a new age of peace, plenty and prosperity. Promotes a revival of the Roman Empire and of culture and traditions of ancient Babylon." Subgroups: Grand Council, Great Babylonian Sisterhood, One Order Militia.

United States Association of Former Members of Congress
Membership is suspended if a members seeks re-election and terminated if elected and sworn in. Does not take positions on public policies.