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Vote any third party. No third party, including libertarian, can win in the current environment. But it's still worth it as a "none of the above" vote. None of

Vote any third party. No third party, including libertarian, can win in the current environment. But it's still worth it as a "none of the above" vote. None of the above is probably the most important messages we can send, even better than not voting. Even if you don't like the 3rd party on offer, vote for it. It won't win, and you've still taken a vote from the demreps.

AnthonyMouse 14y ago
>No third party, including libertarian, can win in the current environment. It has nothing to do with the "current environment" unless by current environment you mean the first past the post voting system. People who talk about "vote for X party" are just deluding themselves. Parties aren't based on ideologies, they're based on coalitions. To win you need to get a controlling majority of the seats in the legislature, not "be a small government conservative" or "advance the cause of criminal justice reform" or whatever thing you think would fix everything if people would just make decisions based on that. The only reason any party does anything is that they think it will keep them in power. So that's how you fix problems. You make it so that the candidate who doesn't advance your cause doesn't get reelected -- and you make sure they all understand that before it happens, so that they do advance your cause. Which is why the drug war has never been fixed. Because we haven't cared enough about it to move the needle. When things like this happen, do you all go out and write your Congressmen a letter that says "fix this or I'm voting against you"? Do media organizations whose lazy government-sources-only coverage favors prosecutors and law enforcement in cases like this get an explosion of phone calls from regular people complaining about biased reporting? No. Which is why it hasn't been fixed.
BetterLateThan 14y ago
They all look human on the way up. The moment they are voted into legislative and/or executive branch under current "democracy", they will become a part of the Status Quo. Which operates on the following rule: Why bother about the spokes when you control the hub? Having said that, a third party vote is the best option under the circumstances.

AnthonyMouse 14y ago

>No third party, including libertarian, can win in the current environment. It has nothing to do with the "current environment" unless by current environment you mean the first past the post voting system. People who talk about "vote for X party" are just deluding themselves. Parties aren't based on ideologies, they're based on coalitions. To win you need to get a controlling majority of the seats in the legislature, not "be a small government conservative" or "advance the cause of criminal justice reform" or whatever thing you think would fix everything if people would just make decisions based on that. The only reason any party does anything is that they think it will keep them in power. So that's how you fix problems. You make it so that the candidate who doesn't advance your cause doesn't get reelected -- and you make sure they all understand that before it happens, so that they do advance your cause. Which is why the drug war has never been fixed. Because we haven't cared enough about it to move the needle. When things like this happen, do you all go out and write your Congressmen a letter that says "fix this or I'm voting against you"? Do media organizations whose lazy government-sources-only coverage favors prosecutors and law enforcement in cases like this get an explosion of phone calls from regular people complaining about biased reporting? No. Which is why it hasn't been fixed.

BetterLateThan 14y ago

They all look human on the way up. The moment they are voted into legislative and/or executive branch under current "democracy", they will become a part of the Status Quo. Which operates on the following rule: Why bother about the spokes when you control the hub? Having said that, a third party vote is the best option under the circumstances.