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Pity US voters their choice of leaders. Surely democracy is better than this? | Simon Tisdall
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2024
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politics
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Voting third party being a waste isn't someone's opinion. It's actual math. 3rd party candidates stand 0 chance in this system. I'd love them to. I believe the last (and possibly only) 3rd party to stand a chance was Teddy Rosevelt with the Bull Moose/ Progressive Party. That was 112 years ago. They merged with the Republicans in less than a decade.
Basically, voting 3rd party in this system is, in fact, throwing away your vote.
If you really want to try and change things, I'd focus on boosting up people in the Democratic Party that are pushing for election reforms, because theres no other way that a 3rd party will ever win
If my preferred party gets more votes this year than they did four years ago, that is a good outcome. Gradually increasing the third-party turnout year over year is how we will chip away at the two-party system.
And if my vote helps my preferred party increase their vote, that is a good use of my vote.
I understand completely, believe me. I've done plenty of work for my local Socialist Party branch. I play board games with the local candidate on a regular basis.
I'm still not voting for him for anything. He isn't voting for himself either. We both know he has 0 chance of winning, partly because he has socialist next to his name, but primarily because he's a 3rd party that struggles to even get on the local ballots. We still raise awareness and spread our causes, but we live in a state that's outlawed anything other than first past the post, and we're both smart enough to know that, mathematically, he stands zero chance.
Well, that's up to you. But keep organizing. Maybe your local Socialist Party branch will one day have enough members that you feel comfortable voting for them.
I hope so, but I doubt it'll happen in my life time. This is a deeply conservative area. It'll take a culture shift like the world has never seen before