There is no time to vote for a 3rd party until our system of voting has changed, for example how some jurisdictions have ranked choice voting now. Until that point, voting for a 3rd party only serves to deny a vote to the candidate you would prefer from among the two major parties.
If you think it’s worth sending a message to the Democrats by denying them a vote and making it more likely a Republican gets elected, go ahead I guess, but I will not do that. I will continue to advocate for ranked choice voting in my jurisdiction, but until then I will continue voting for Democrats in all elections.
I would add that only having two parties has not been the direct cause of the current polarization. That has been caused by politicized gerrymandering and a primary system in which a very small number of voters even decide who the candidates are going to be. Becoming active within the party you align most closely with is a way to influence who the candidates are and how they approach issues you care about. Alternatively, you can be like Jill Stein…give up and burn the fucking house down when you disagree with others in your party on a small number of issues
So we’re stuck voting for Democrats with no feasible way to send a message to the party thus inviting mediocrity all because our only other option is a group crazies until we convince the entire voting population to embrace ranked voting, a system that strips Republicans and Democrats of their grip on the system? And third party candidates aren’t feasible because Democrats and Republicans have rigged the voting system because they don’t want to give up their grip on said system.
Essentially it’s somehow easier to change our entire voting system instead of voting for someone without a D or an R next to their name even though plenty of districts, counties, and states have voted in 3rd party candidates.
Seems to me this is a country of cowards
Also
“a division of the republic into two great parties … is to be dreaded as the great political evil.” John Adams
"The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.” George Washington
There is no time to vote for a 3rd party until our system of voting has changed, for example how some jurisdictions have ranked choice voting now. Until that point, voting for a 3rd party only serves to deny a vote to the candidate you would prefer from among the two major parties.
If you think it’s worth sending a message to the Democrats by denying them a vote and making it more likely a Republican gets elected, go ahead I guess, but I will not do that. I will continue to advocate for ranked choice voting in my jurisdiction, but until then I will continue voting for Democrats in all elections.
I would add that only having two parties has not been the direct cause of the current polarization. That has been caused by politicized gerrymandering and a primary system in which a very small number of voters even decide who the candidates are going to be. Becoming active within the party you align most closely with is a way to influence who the candidates are and how they approach issues you care about. Alternatively, you can be like Jill Stein…give up and burn the fucking house down when you disagree with others in your party on a small number of issues
So we’re stuck voting for Democrats with no feasible way to send a message to the party thus inviting mediocrity all because our only other option is a group crazies until we convince the entire voting population to embrace ranked voting, a system that strips Republicans and Democrats of their grip on the system? And third party candidates aren’t feasible because Democrats and Republicans have rigged the voting system because they don’t want to give up their grip on said system.
Essentially it’s somehow easier to change our entire voting system instead of voting for someone without a D or an R next to their name even though plenty of districts, counties, and states have voted in 3rd party candidates.
Seems to me this is a country of cowards
Also
“a division of the republic into two great parties … is to be dreaded as the great political evil.” John Adams
"The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.” George Washington