Editing Natural Law Party (section)

==History and platform==
According to the [[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]], the Natural Law Party (NLP) was first founded in the United Kingdom in March 1992 and was later established in the United States, France, Austria, Germany, Croatia, Israel, Japan, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Australia, Norway, Sweden, New Zealand, Chile, Thailand and Canada.<ref>{{Citation |last=Yogi |first=Maharishi Mahesh |title=Science of Being and Art of Living |page=xxxiii |year=1995 |publisher=Penguin}}</ref> The American branch of the party was founded later that year in [[Fairfield, Iowa]] U.S.A. by educators, business leaders, lawyers and other supporters of the [[Transcendental Meditation movement]].<ref name="Nemeth" /><ref>{{Citation |last=Roth |first=R |title=The Natural Law Party: A Reason to Vote |page=285 |year=1998 |publisher=St. Martin's}}</ref> The party was active in many countries and delegates from 60 countries attended an international convention in Bonn, Germany in 1998.<ref name="Mian">{{Cite news |last=Ridge |first=Mian |title=The Maharishi at 80: Yogi in the sky with diamonds: A pyramid in India, the tallest building in the world, is among the projects planned by devotees |date=6 August 1999 |work=Vancouver Sun|page=A.17}}</ref> The party became largely inactive in the United States in 2004 and was discontinued in the Netherlands in 2007.<ref>{{Citation |title=Natural Law Party |url=http://www.natuurwetpartij.nl/ |type=official Web site |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061030005421/http://www.natuurwetpartij.nl/ |place=[[Netherlands]] |archive-date=30 October 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The party had its foundation in the principles of Transcendental Meditation<ref name="Cowan/Bromley"/><ref>{{Citation |title=Politics and Transcendental Meditation |date=29 December 1995 |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1995/12/29/MN65432.DTL |work=SFGate |page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120163700/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=%2Fchronicle%2Farchive%2F1995%2F12%2F29%2FMN65432.DTL |archive-date=20 January 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and was committed to "prevention oriented government and conflict free politics" through holistic health programmes and the practice of the [[Transcendental Meditation technique]].<ref name="Nemeth" /> In Scotland and Wales, party advertisements proclaimed that "natural law which silently governs the whole universe in perfect order and without a problem."<ref name="Cowan/Bromley"/> The Scotland and Wales branch of the party promised reduced pollution, the elimination of genetically modified crops and an increase in sustainable agriculture. They also supported free college education and the use of the Transcendental Meditation technique in the school system.<ref name="Cowan/Bromley"/> In the UK, NLP candidate Geoffrey Clements advocated the use of Transcendental Meditation and the [[TM-Sidhi program]]'s yogic flying practice to reduce crime and war deaths.<ref name="Cowan/Bromley"/> In the U.S.A. its platform included clean energy, labeling of genetically modified foods, a ban on the construction of nuclear energy plants, and an end to political action committees.<ref name="Nemeth" />