No, there really isn’t any other choice. Not until there is an alternative voting system. This one basically forces only 2 viable parties. So, you pick the lesser evil, vote third party and possibly help the greater evil, or don’t vote, which means you can’t distinguish between the greater or lesser evil (which, if that’s the case, is fine).
I don’t think democrats or republicans are responsible for your $30 protein chips though. Inflation is not unique to the U.S. and, compared to many places, is actually pretty under control.
Certainly “arrogance” is a personality trait. And isn’t it arrogant to think that you would be the best person to lead the nation? So they’re all arrogant. Admittedly, “lacking integrity” isn’t a personality trait, but it’s also not something I perceived in her.
And it’s one thing to support the Republican platform but even the most die-hard Republican would have to hold his nose (and close his ears, eyes and sense of judgment) to justify supporting Trump.
Hi Ashtura. I think this shows the difference (unless you are elderly like me) between having lived a long time and seen almost everything several times until it all just seems like a repeat. I loved it when I could travel and everyone loved Americans and wanted to come to this country. Trump has ruined that. I’m not ashamed, I’m embarrassed.
You mean the lead attacker whom you supported? That is, Donald Trump? That lead attacker? You knew what he was like in 2015 and you still supported him. Now you’re unhappy because he’s not done anything about your protein chips getting pricey.
Citing foods you wouldn’t have eaten 20 years ago as evidence of price increases doesn’t really show inflation. It just shows that you like finer stuff now. When I was a kid, your choices were Lays, Doritos, Wise, Pringles, all fairly standard greasy chips with little nutritional value. Health food always sells at a premium except for staples like fruits and veggies. Healthy foods that are ALSO junk food is especially sold at a premium.
Strange, then, how the three other major countries which use first-past-the post (Canada, Britain and India) all have multi-party systems in their parliaments. Only the US has a duopoly, of “two and only two” parties.
I agree that it’s your electoral system that produces this result, but it’s more likely, in my view, to come from your presidential/governor systems of government, ballot access laws, and primaries (including sore loser laws). It’s not F-P-T-P, which actually had strengthened the growth of regional parties in parliamentary systems.
See: “Duverger’s Law is a Dead Parrot: European Political Scientists Need to Recognize that Plurality or Majority Voting Has No Tendency At All to Produce Two Party Politics”
How so? Duverger’s so-called Law has a 75% failure rate at predicting how first-past-the post will operate. In the four major countries that use it, three have multi-party systems. There tend to be two major parties, yes, but nothing like the US system.
A better reason for the US duopoly is because it’s a congressional-presidential system, not a parliamentary system. In a parliamentary system, voting for a third party is not a vote “thrown away”. If you vote for a third party, you know that they may not form government, but they may have enough influence in the legislature to affect who becomes the government. For example, the Greens in BC only have three seats in the provincial legislature: but those three seats decided who would be premier and form a government, the Liberals or the NDP. That just doesn’t happen in the US presidential system, where votes for third parties have no influence on the choice of the executive.
The problem is a lot of people seem to feel they’re voting for their new best friend; the person they’d like to have a beer with.
Guess what? You’re never going to sit down and have a beer with Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. You’re not going to be friends with either of them, just like you’re not going to be friends with George Clooney or Sandra Bullock or Tom Hanks or Jennifer Lawrence.
You need to select a President like you’re hiring an accountant for your business. Don’t hire the guy who you want to hang out with after work. Hire the guy who you think will do a good job as an accountant.
Exactly! When we vote we are supposed to be hiring a country’s admin staff, to manage our affairs. It was not the Dems’ or Hillary’s fault that Trump was elected. The real reasons are that some voters were too stupid to think critically, or that some people were too stupid to vote at all. And many people also don’t seem to grasp that this is serious shit. If you go into a voting both with the sole intent of “shaking things up”, you mind just end up with one person determined to take apart everything the west worked so hard to assemble after WW II. So how the fuck is that working out?
