Comments on: And yes, even now, third party candidates matter.

By: elianita55

elianita55 — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 20:03:37 +0000

One of the least discussed side effects of Obama’s landslide victory is the further marginalization of third parties in the United States.
As someone that lives in Europe, it is hard to not notice that the United States seems isolated among Western democracies in its determination to head to a further entrenchment in a bipolar political landscape.
Third party candidates are a vital part of the democratic process. Yet the United States’ political system deliberately hinders pluralism by limiting the exposure of third party candidates to media.
For more: http://www.ilpodesta.org/2008/11/forgetting-face-of-pluralism.html

By: Jack

Jack — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:55:55 +0000

@Latoya: I definitely agree with your insistence that people engage on some level, whether through voting or some other sort of political (and I’d add community) engagement. I was just responding to you saying that “not voting should NEVER be an option,” which seemed pretty definitive and all-encompassing, but I see where you were trying to direct that. For myself, I think that despite the deep flaws in our electoral and political systems, and despite the fact that true change comes from the bottom up, not from the top down, I still think it’s worth it and important to vote. But I can also get why others might not.

By: Terry Bouricius

Terry Bouricius — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:42:53 +0000

Instant runoff voting (IRV) is a very important pro-democracy reform, that can avoid the “spoiler” problem, and unlike some pet voting method reforms that have tiny Internet groups of supporters, IRV has a chance to sweep the country and is already actually being successfully adopted in the U.S. — starting with San Francisco’s historic 2004 IRV election, my own city of Burlington (VT), Minneapolis (MN), and as of yesterday, Memphis (TN), to name a few. Folks can learn more about IRV at http://www.fairvote.org

By: Latoya Peterson

Latoya Peterson — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:29:04 +0000

@Ian –

The only wasted vote is one that’s not cast.

Thank you. My post was not dedicated to the “fill in the blank reason that I am politically engaged but not voting crowd.” It’s to the people who want to comment on politics, but never see fit to ever make that first step to engage at any level. I can’t wait to check the voter turnout numbers for tomorrow.

By: ian

ian — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 03:47:57 +0000

Although I consider myself an Independent, I’ve always voted for either a Republican or a Democrat, out of practicality. But I’ve grown quite disillusioned by our One Party/Two Factions system. This time I decided to vote for what I truly believe best match my values and conviction. I voted Green. It was a truly liberating feeling. Folks who think voting third party is a waste just don’t get it. The only wasted vote is one that’s not cast.

By: Angeline

Angeline — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 03:17:22 +0000

I voted McKinney/Clemente as well, Chelsea. While I hope that Obama wins, since he’s better than McCain, he definitely does not represent my values anywhere near as well as McKinney does. And no matter what anyone says, I am damn proud to say that I voted for the person that I think is best for the job and who best represents me. And almost as proud to put at least a nick in the two-party system.

By: Jack

Jack — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 20:50:51 +0000

Thanks for responding to that, Cara and Radfem. Am sneaking in a little blogging time right now in the middle of a busy day, else I would’ve responded earlier and similarly.

By: Radfem

Radfem — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 20:46:44 +0000

I’m sorry but this B.S. gets tiresome. Neither the Democrats, the Republicans, the Greens or anyone is entitled to my vote no matter how much they might think or believe they own it or me. When I vote for a candidate, I vote for that candidate for well-thought out reasons and often in a difficult process just like those who chastise me for not voting for their candidate. If you can’t respect that, then you have not earned my respect.

If Obama loses, it’ll either be a fault in his campaigning, the fact that American Whites can’t vote for a Black man or election corruption (as it was in 2000).

Honestly, if these self-righteous Democrats spent as much time pointing fingers at the people who corrupted the election process disenfranchising millions of voters and violating the Voting Act as they did wagging at fingers at third party candidates, then maybe people wouldn’t be scared in many places that there will be corruption this year. And people are very worried about this. But when it’s happened before, where were all these Democrats in power that could have done something (even if not successfully changing the race, at least helping people feel safer in the process).

And Chelsea, I respect you for exercising your right to vote as you choose. It’s your vote and it means what you choose it to mean. Yes, it does seem like the two-party is not representative of everyone in this politically diverse country. We need more options.

By: Cara

Cara — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 20:31:17 +0000

Little Apples, please reference our comment policy before commenting further. You are free to disagree and argue, but you are not free to insult other community members with words like “moron,” and if you continue to do so you will not be allowed to comment here any longer.

By: little apples

little apples — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 20:18:49 +0000

So … you voted for McCain, Chelsea. Good going.

Ugh.

If Obama loses, one reason will be you morons voting third party.