I voted for the civil rights violating, Wall Street suckup who would NOT attack women’s freedom of choice to avoid electing the civil rights violating Wall Street suckup who WOULD attack women’s freedom to choose. In short, I voted for Obama.
The local races were just as bad, nothing but Republicans, blue dog Democrats and libertarian to choose from. Yech.
Well fuck that shit. I’m off to work on building viable progressive political party, if that’s possible. Beats voting for people you KNOW will betray you.
And I had to stand in line for 40 minutes to do it.
The first bolded part is rather contradicted by the second bolded part, don’t you think?
By the way, third parties were completely nonexistent in the formation of the Civil Rights Act and other civil rights victories since then. I don’t think splitting the liberal vote is really the answer.
How does this argument go again?
“I’m going to abandon the candidate that will get just some of what I want done and has a chance of getting into a position to do just that, and support a candidate that will tell me everthing I want to hear but doesn’t have a chance in hell of getting within 500 miles of the White House.”
At least you had blue dog Democrats to vote for. Neither my US Congress race nor my US Senate race even had a Democrat running! I voted for the Green Part in one race and “none of the above” in the other.
It is totally possible to build a Progressive Party, but you would have to be ready to pay the consequences of such an effort. We have a two party system, so you would more likely draw voters from the Democratic Party than the Republican Party. This would throw elections to the Republicans every year you did this, giving them a strong opportunity to bend laws their way and strengthen their positions on all fronts until your Progressive Party got strong enough to oppose them…if they ever did, because I’m sure legal roadblocks of every shape and size would be built up over the years by the unfettered Republicans to stop the Progressives from accomplishing jack shit. The best estimations I’ve seen so far for a strong Progressive Party to rise from the ashes of the Democratic Party is twenty years.
If reproductive rights were the only issue, you’d have a point. Obama wouldn’t know habeas corpus if it bit him in the ass (“Constitutional scholar” hell!) he’s all for warrantless wiretaps and the unbridled expansion of executive power.
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If the Dems want my support they can earn it. I see no prospect that they will do so unless compelled to by a real and present danger of losing political power.
Did I say I voted for Jill Stein? I did not. I voted for Obama. I should have voted for Jill Stein, might have helped her, would not have hurt Obama, here in Georgia.
I do think you’re better off trying to work within the Democratic party (getting more progressive candidates nominated locally, building up more of a left-ish presence within the party, and so on), which worked for the right-wingers with the Republican party. Still a very long distance to go.
I do not believe that campaigning for third parties is illegal QUITE yet.
But if I WERE to do anything illegal, whether it’s illegal politics, credit card fraud or just knocking over a convenience store, you can bet that I will start by announcing it on this message board and then posting a followup on my Facebook page.
You want to get a Progressive agenda recognized by politicians?
Here’s what you do:
Go to the most Progressive candidates who are actually in office - I am thinking that Bernie Saunders might be the most visible and most closely approximating Progressive views but there are others who can assist - and ask them for help.
Find issues where you can make a dent and gather up petitions and even try and raise money to directly lobby politicians who would be sympathetic to your cause.
It would also help if you were in a state or county that would be more likely to support Progressive candidates. A place like Maine or Vermont or even Minnesota has pockets where a Progressive agenda can take hold… Not so much in Texas or Utah.
But there is something you need to realize: You are a huge minority and there is no guarantee of representation for minority political views. Things are so bad for Progressives in this country right now that many of them grasp onto the horribad RON PAUL as some kind of savior (because someone against Civil Rights is a pantheon of Progressive thought).
You have a very uphill battle. But complaining about how the ballot doesn’t represent your views won’t change anything except make other Progressive-minded people shake their heads at you when your idealism gets in the way of reality.
All we can do, and I would like to see more Progressives up for election as well, is vote as progressive as possible in primaries. We might see a slow shift to the left that way. I don’t think a third-party can really be viable unless the Republican Party implodes.
There is nothing more asinine than that old “They are both the same!” shtick. If you aren’t capable of spotting the obvious differences between the two parties by this time, I see no reason to discuss this with you.