Protesting your vote

[scoober78]

Part of the problem is that most of them (Greens, Libertarians with a capital L, Socialists) are even more extreme than the Dems/Repubs.

No! What has happened is not extremism in the major political parties, exactly the opposite. The major political parties have undergone median convergence and become indistinguishable in nearly every issue. The cherry pick a few key "talking points" to disagree on and then provide nearly identical platforms and "solutions" to every serious political issue facing the nation.

Third parties, by contrast seem extreme because they provide a real difference of opinion. The reality of the situation is that there is no genuine liberal or conservative party anymore.

 

[Brett327]

No! What has happened is not extremism in the major political parties, exactly the opposite. The major political parties have undergone median convergence and become indistinguishable in nearly every issue. The cherry pick a few key "talking points" to disagree on and then provide nearly identical platforms and "solutions" to every serious political issue facing the nation.

Third parties, by contrast seem extreme because they provide a real difference of opinion. The reality of the situation is that there is no genuine liberal or conservative party anymore.

Perfect analysis, as usual.

Brett

 

[theduke]

^concur

Any third party is most alike to the Democrats, so they only act as a foil to the Repubs by taking away votes from the Dems.

I disagree. What about Perot in '92? Hell, what about the Reform Party in general? Jesse Ventura (who ended up split from the Reform Party, but I digress)? PAT BUCHANON? I would place every one of those guys, to varying degrees, closer to the GOP than the Democratic Party.

The Constitution Party is definitely closer to the traditional GOP than the Democratic Party, and so are parts of the Libertarian Party. I will concede that Greens are indeed filthy, socialist statists (although they like a lot of their statism at the local and state level) and are decidedly closer to the Democrats than the Republicans.


as far as voting for a 3rd party instead of abstaining, well, I did that on a number of races in '04 (Libertarian). However, they are often not even on the ballot. In many other cases, they are so extreme that, while I follow a similar ideology, I'd practically rather have EITHER of their major party competitors elected (i.e., they really still don't represent me any better than the candidates from the 2 major parties). Finally, and I suppose this isn't really a good reason, but in light of the aforementioned concerns and the fact that I work about 70 hours per week, it just wasn't worth my time to make slightly more of a statement by voting 3rd party than I did by not voting at all (not to mention that, since I don't want capital-"L" Libertarians elected, either, I did, in fact, vote exactly with respect to who represents me best, which is to say NO ONE.)


what's such a shame is that I'm not expecting a dream candidate. I'm more than willing to vote enthusiastically for someone who reasonably approximates my desires in a candidate. I'm also not any sort of a political extremist who should reasonably expect to have trouble finding someone representative of his views--I'm a relatively moderate, libertarian-leaning Republican (or right-leaning libertarian)--what P.J. O'Rourke describes as a "Republican Reptile". There is a huge segment of the electorate very much like me.

For that matter, I contend that any sort of fiscal conservative is politically homeless as of now, and has been for, ohh, nearly 10 years.

 

[Brett327]

^concur



I disagree. What about Perot in '92? Hell, what about the Reform Party in general? Jesse Ventura (who ended up split from the Reform Party, but I digress)? PAT BUCHANON? I would place every one of those guys, to varying degrees, closer to the GOP than the Democratic Party.

The Constitution Party is definitely closer to the traditional GOP than the Democratic Party, and so are parts of the Libertarian Party. I will concede that Greens are indeed filthy, socialist statists (although they like a lot of their statism at the local and state level) and are decidedly closer to the Democrats than the Republicans.


as far as voting for a 3rd party instead of abstaining, well, I did that on a number of races in '04 (Libertarian). However, they are often not even on the ballot. In many other cases, they are so extreme that, while I follow a similar ideology, I'd practically rather have EITHER of their major party competitors elected (i.e., they really still don't represent me any better than the candidates from the 2 major parties). Finally, and I suppose this isn't really a good reason, but in light of the aforementioned concerns and the fact that I work about 70 hours per week, it just wasn't worth my time to make slightly more of a statement by voting 3rd party than I did by not voting at all (not to mention that, since I don't want capital-"L" Libertarians elected, either, I did, in fact, vote exactly with respect to who represents me best, which is to say NO ONE.)


what's such a shame is that I'm not expecting a dream candidate. I'm more than willing to vote enthusiastically for someone who reasonably approximates my desires in a candidate. I'm also not any sort of a political extremist who should reasonably expect to have trouble finding someone representative of his views--I'm a relatively moderate, libertarian-leaning Republican (or right-leaning libertarian)--what P.J. O'Rourke describes as a "Republican Reptile". There is a huge segment of the electorate very much like me.

For that matter, I contend that any sort of fiscal conservative is politically homeless as of now, and has been for, ohh, nearly 10 years.

P.J. O'Rourke, my hero. Wrote "Vacation" and the lesser known National Lampoon great, "My Vagina."

I'm going to break it down for all you guys. No matter how much you might think that neither party represents your values, they're not identical, so there must be one of them that is closer to how you feel. If you can't wrap your mind around this notion, then you're too far gone/misinformed/retarded/immature and I don't want you voting anyway. Find issues that concern you and vote accordingly. Not voting and saying that both parties are the same is tantamount to intellectual laziness. It's Be responsible and vote.

Brett

 

[thenuge]

you're too far gone/misinformed/retarded/immature...
Brett

sounds like my choices for senator.

 

[Zilch]

I would like to see parties other than the two major ones present in debates. That'd probably go a long way in raising awareness of them. Usually when I say "libertarian" to someone I have to explain what that is. Putting them on the ballot might not hurt, either.

It must be a conspiracy!

 

[Carno]

I'm going to break it down for all you guys. No matter how much you might think that neither party represents your values, they're not identical, so there must be one of them that is closer to how you feel. If you can't wrap your mind around this notion, then you're too far gone/misinformed/retarded/immature and I don't want you voting anyway. Find issues that concern you and vote accordingly. Not voting and saying that both parties are the same is tantamount to intellectual laziness. It's Be responsible and vote.

Well I do know the issues and where I stand on them, and I don't think that the two parties are the same. However that makes no difference to me, because I never said I wasn't voting because I thought they were too similar.