4 ms·

This is such a discouraging and sad view point. I'm not saying it's wrong, just pessimistic, and not blaming you for saying it just venting. Who cares if it's

This is such a discouraging and sad view point. I'm not saying it's wrong, just pessimistic, and not blaming you for saying it just venting. Who cares if it's more x than y. Most voters are moderates. Myself, and many moderates, feel completely unrepresented by either side. Not liberal enough to vote D, and not conservative enough to vote R. You'd think they'd be drifting together, but increasingly are drifting further apart. Why not encourage more parties, or at least some middle ground party, if what we have today sucks. Surely there's a better reason than "so the other guys don't win"

itsdrewmiller 5y ago
The vast majority of US voters are either essentially conservative/Republican or liberal/Democrat, however they identify themselves to pollsters. The very small number of people who are actually swing voters generally aren't that way because they have midpoint positions on the issues, and they are on average also much less well-informed in general. See https://www.vox.com/2018/7/23/17575768/swing-voters-exist https://www.vox.com/2018/7/23/17575768/swing-voters-exist and links from it for evidence of these claims.
noahjk 5y ago
A lot of my views trend liberal, but I don't really feel very well represented by the Democratic Party... really I think we would do better to have multiple smaller parties and a better voting system, and to somehow remove the giant monetary influences that seem to corrupt all decision making. The past five years have really done a number on us all. You're right about the huge divide that's developed, it's scary.
- js2 5y ago
  You might be interested in this: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/09/08/opinion/republicans-democrats-parties.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/09/08/opinion/repub... https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780190913854.001.0001/oso-9780190913854 https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/o...
- spookthesunset 5y ago
  > The past five years have really done a number on us all Which only got 100x worse in the last 1.7 years. I've traditionally identified as a (D) but holy moly... now I'm partyless....
- TomSwirly 5y ago
  It just "developed" all on its own? It wasn't that one side went batshitinsane? Because from here in the Netherlands, it sure looks like the Republicans went totally off the deep end and aren't ever swimming back to shore...
  - DougN7 5y ago
    I’ve wondered if Trump drove the party there or merely exposed and harnessed what was already going on. Either way, as a conservative, I find there is nobody representing me any more.
shephardjhon 5y ago
"not liberal enough to vote D, not conservative enough to vote R"? That is a very reductive view. What do you actually support? Is climate change real? Do workers deserve more rights like minimum wage, fedrally mandated paid holidy, fixed working hours? Then there are "social" issues the government shoulden't even have a hand in unless you want a theoracy. The modern right only fights on the basis of said "social" issues. If that is the only thing important to you, vote R otherwise vote D but keep pressuring them. Also, even with countries with multiple parties it just turns into a race between two. In India its BJP or Congress, in Pakistan until very recently it was PPP or PML, now there is also PTI. In UK its conservative or labor. So you kust pick one of the two and push that one for what you want, there is no perfect representation no matter how many parties you have.
TomSwirly 5y ago
> Not liberal enough to vote D, and not conservative enough to vote R. Is COVID a hoax? "Can't rightly say!" Does the climate emergency exist? "Some people say otherwise, it's none of my business." Should American women be allowed abortions? "I really have no opinion." Is Trump a delusional psychopath? "Can't see any difference between him and Biden!" Do these people really exist? ---- I moved to Europe in 2016, and America seems increasingly weird to me. Here you have these two right-wing parties already, and you're like, "No, I need another right-wing party". Here it is over a year and a half into the worst pandemic in living memory, and no one's even talking about giving people medical care, something the rest of the developed world has had for generations. Both parties compete to see who will increase the military budget faster and who will suck up to Wall Street harder. Sure, the Democrats are sane and have flashes of competence; the Republicans are delusional raving loonies who lie every chance they can get and only have a tenuous grasp on reality. Big difference. But still, not so much range.
- silisili 5y ago
  I have little interest in debating politics, or being told how to vote, but I just wanted to reply to explain it's not like that here. Yes, some crazies exist on both sides. Perhaps more on the R side, probably, but I don't have the numbers. The majority of both sides, yes even those scary evil republicans you speak of, are reasonable people. To paint one side by their best people, and another by their worst, is not an argument in good faith. I'm sorry whatever media you've consumed has misled you a bit.
UncleOxidant 5y ago
Until we get some sort of ranked choice voting it will be this way.

itsdrewmiller 5y ago

The vast majority of US voters are either essentially conservative/Republican or liberal/Democrat, however they identify themselves to pollsters. The very small number of people who are actually swing voters generally aren't that way because they have midpoint positions on the issues, and they are on average also much less well-informed in general. See https://www.vox.com/2018/7/23/17575768/swing-voters-exist https://www.vox.com/2018/7/23/17575768/swing-voters-exist and links from it for evidence of these claims.

noahjk 5y ago

A lot of my views trend liberal, but I don't really feel very well represented by the Democratic Party... really I think we would do better to have multiple smaller parties and a better voting system, and to somehow remove the giant monetary influences that seem to corrupt all decision making. The past five years have really done a number on us all. You're right about the huge divide that's developed, it's scary.

js2 5y ago
You might be interested in this: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/09/08/opinion/republicans-democrats-parties.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/09/08/opinion/repub... https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780190913854.001.0001/oso-9780190913854 https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/o...
spookthesunset 5y ago
> The past five years have really done a number on us all Which only got 100x worse in the last 1.7 years. I've traditionally identified as a (D) but holy moly... now I'm partyless....
TomSwirly 5y ago
It just "developed" all on its own? It wasn't that one side went batshitinsane? Because from here in the Netherlands, it sure looks like the Republicans went totally off the deep end and aren't ever swimming back to shore...
- DougN7 5y ago
  I’ve wondered if Trump drove the party there or merely exposed and harnessed what was already going on. Either way, as a conservative, I find there is nobody representing me any more.

shephardjhon 5y ago

"not liberal enough to vote D, not conservative enough to vote R"? That is a very reductive view. What do you actually support? Is climate change real? Do workers deserve more rights like minimum wage, fedrally mandated paid holidy, fixed working hours? Then there are "social" issues the government shoulden't even have a hand in unless you want a theoracy. The modern right only fights on the basis of said "social" issues. If that is the only thing important to you, vote R otherwise vote D but keep pressuring them. Also, even with countries with multiple parties it just turns into a race between two. In India its BJP or Congress, in Pakistan until very recently it was PPP or PML, now there is also PTI. In UK its conservative or labor. So you kust pick one of the two and push that one for what you want, there is no perfect representation no matter how many parties you have.

TomSwirly 5y ago

> Not liberal enough to vote D, and not conservative enough to vote R. Is COVID a hoax? "Can't rightly say!" Does the climate emergency exist? "Some people say otherwise, it's none of my business." Should American women be allowed abortions? "I really have no opinion." Is Trump a delusional psychopath? "Can't see any difference between him and Biden!" Do these people really exist? ---- I moved to Europe in 2016, and America seems increasingly weird to me. Here you have these two right-wing parties already, and you're like, "No, I need another right-wing party". Here it is over a year and a half into the worst pandemic in living memory, and no one's even talking about giving people medical care, something the rest of the developed world has had for generations. Both parties compete to see who will increase the military budget faster and who will suck up to Wall Street harder. Sure, the Democrats are sane and have flashes of competence; the Republicans are delusional raving loonies who lie every chance they can get and only have a tenuous grasp on reality. Big difference. But still, not so much range.

silisili 5y ago
I have little interest in debating politics, or being told how to vote, but I just wanted to reply to explain it's not like that here. Yes, some crazies exist on both sides. Perhaps more on the R side, probably, but I don't have the numbers. The majority of both sides, yes even those scary evil republicans you speak of, are reasonable people. To paint one side by their best people, and another by their worst, is not an argument in good faith. I'm sorry whatever media you've consumed has misled you a bit.

UncleOxidant 5y ago

Until we get some sort of ranked choice voting it will be this way.