this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2024
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That sounds too much like work and not enough like bitching.
Makes me wish we had some serious third parties in this country, and not two grifting perennial presidential-election also-rans
The lack of viable ones is less a result of effort on their part or desire for them among the electorate, and more to do with the nature of our voting system. Its hard to develop a viable third party when the system one is operating in mathematically guarantees that only two parties can be seriously competitive with eachother in nationally significant elections, and those parties are already established. They can be competitive in local elections that the larger ones dont put as much effort into, but the only times theyve ever gotten to the presidency have been the couple times when one of the two major parties basically collapses and gets replaced with a different one.
That's my point, though. The two biggest third parties in this country aren't competitive in local elections, because they put even less effort in local elections as the two major parties do. They make a performative shot at the presidency every four years, and that's about fucking it. The Libertarians are slightly better (god, what a sentence to gag on) on this than the Greens, but not by much.
There are more than just two third-parties if that's how you want to refer to them. There were three others you didn't mention in my state, all different on policy. Third-party doesn't by default mean green or libertarian.
They said "biggest", not "only".
Which I will admit is only partially accurate, the AIP (a paleoconservative party, far right) is the largest after the Libertarian Party (which is not even remotely libertarian in policy). Then Green (which doesn't actually do anything on any of the ideologies they claim to support), followed by another christian nationalist party, and then parties so small they are a margin of error on the national stage at best, combined.
Single-state parties have no relevance nationally.
Isn't the AIP just part of the Constitution Party, which itself is, as a whole, smaller than the Greens?
Not really, there was a split in the AIP where some stayed with the Constitution Party (specifically in CA, not in UT), and others stayed purely AIP, then they went with a splinter name for those who didn't stay with Constitution called America's Party. Which is bonus funny, because a few decades before that there was another split with some becoming the American Party (northern conservatives).
In terms of membership though, the AIP still keeps all of them, making them the largest by membership IIRC. Its... weird. So AIP is technically larger, but its really split into a lot of factions. UT is still where the bulk of the membership is though I believe. Numbers wise though, if you shoved them all in one place, they still wouldn't even make the top ten list of cities by population in the US. The Green Party membership numbers wouldn't hit the top 100.
I'm going to double check though, its been a while since I looked in on those loonies....
EDIT:
Wikipedia numbers for quick checks, the LP actually has less members than I thought. As of 2022, 727k. Green has 211k, AIP has 919k members, and Constitution has 154k members.
In terms of votes in the 2020 presidential election, the LP got 1.8 million votes, green got 400k, an much to my surprise, the Working Families Party got 386k! Letitia James, btw, ran in the WFP ticket ~20 years ago or so. They still have some folks in office in Philly, and had previously won some state seats in CT. They make use of electoral fusion to support Democrats where they don't have a chance to win or there is a risk from pulling from Democrats to a loss against republicans, and are, as far as I know, one of the better 3rd parties out there. Membership is still low though, looks like only 65k. I know they are in my state, though it looks like they don't have ballot access yet. Hmm. Maybe worth seeing if they are trying for anything locally by me to see if I can support them.
EDIT 2: THEY DO! This is exciting, they have someone up for my district! I'm disappointed with myself for not seeing that, running under the Democrat ticket but a WFP party member - that is fantastic news.
Folks, this is the sort of third party you get behind. They work together against the far right, and have a defined focus on social democracy and progressive policy.
Still, a lot of people are seemingly treating all third parties the same as they do the Green party, which then affects all of them in public opinion.
At the national level, yes. The only thing they are is a spoiler party in federal elections. Hopefully that changes in the future, but to do that we need to get away from FPTP, and those 3rd parties need to go local first to get recognition.
Local level is an entirely different territory, and there are quite a few third parties in offices.
But in a federal election? Yeah, they are only a spoiler, nothing else.
But see you are doing exactly what I said, applying criticism of the Green party to all third parties. Its the green party that doesn't participate in local elections. I don't mind third parties trying different strategies. For better or for worse, whatever the green party is doing at least gets it talked about a ton, which has to be worth something.
No, I'm applying it to all third parties at the federal level, with zero/minimal representation at the local/state level.
That makes them spoiler candidates.
And its specifically for the worse in a presidential, because they are spoiler candidates.
If Jill Stein wanted better for the US, she would have dropped out, said she wants better for the country, and put her support behind a candidate who can win and isn't running on a platform of christian hate.
But she didn't. Like she didn't in the two previous presidential elections.
Want to know why?
Tap for spoiler
SHE IS A SPOILER CANDIDATEThere isnt only one valid perspective that is "better for the US". The only ones we know are wrong are the current one, because clearly bad shit happens as a result.
While you think she's a spoiler, I don't think she thinks that. I think she thinks she is helping America, truly. Its one thing to disagree with her methods or policies, but quite another to throw shit on her for sitting at a table with Putin once. I don't think she is selling herself out.
I am sure she won't win, but I think that it helps broaden the discussion on what politics can be in the future, even if its just a bunch of people from different corners arguing about it.
I would agree if, and only if:
At best, she's working to republican advantage. But with everything else....
She's not broadening jack, she's there to get Trump elected. There are far too many items that show as much.
So no. I'm not going to sit here while someone "hurr durr good conversation". Bullshit. Complete bullshit, she has one purpose, and one only, or she wouldn't be doing the things shes doing.
You can lie to yourself and others, but I won't.
I wouldnt work with anyone who ever was near trump either.
Spoiling michigan would be a win for them because the democrats would rather ignore the green party. The whole point of the green party is to affect change in the democrat party. Yes they are going after democrats They are trying to convert democrats who aren't aware of our countries shortcomings internationally.
They don't expect to win the presidential office, they expect to affect change within the democrat party by giving a home to those who don't feel represented by democrats or republicans anymore.
I want people to vote honestly. Even with all of these issues I have with the democrats I still voted for Kamala. The point is broadening the discussions so people aren't afraid to be honest about politics.
Again, you can keep lying to yourself and others, but I won't.
They are ignored because they are spoiler candidates. Because they do nothing when its not Presidential election time.
Because Jill Stein is a spoiler candidate.
You can keep trying to selectively ignore parts of this, but it doesnt change anything. I'll say again - if they wanted to effect real change, they would be going for local, state, and then federal seats in all elections.
But they aren't. Because Jill Stein is a spoiler candidate and nothing more.
Edit: And they definitely wouldn't want a threat to democracy to get into office. That right there should be your bit where you realize what she is.
You can say spoiler candidate all you want, I'm not sure why you think that will change my mind.
Your mind won't be changed, you're going to keep saying the same stuff, I get that.
I mention it for others who read this thread. Working Families Party is a great example of a third party that actually is working for change, and collaborates to stop the far right.
The Green Party, and Jill Stein, is actively working in a way to the advantage of the far right, as well as blatantly working directly with them. Which makes her... dun dun dun.... a spoiler candidate.
So yeah, I'll keep repeating it.
I didnt vote for the green party. I voted for kamala in the federal election and chose the working class party for the rest that I could, and democrats where I couldn't.
Does that satisfy you?
Thats wonderful!
I still want to make sure people know what Jill Stein is, and don't throw away their vote to her as the republicans she collaborates with want.
I'd argue that all Democrats should vote for literally any third party if they are in a non-contested state, if one of those exists.
Other than that though, I still respect the freedom to vote for what you believe in, and do not think Jill Stein is at least knowingly a "Russian asset" if you want to call it that.
What I consider her is a republican asset, to be clear. Which is why she works so closely with so many far right republicans, and is specifically trying to pull votes in battleground states to give Trump the win. Lets be honest here - even her own people say thats the goal.
And I don't think any state is really non-contested at this point. I will continue to support expanding social programs and shutting down the far right at every turn, and now that I know WFP is in my state enough, I'll be supporting them at every point I can.
I also won't turn a blind eye to someone intentionally trying to get the far right in power. Which is what Jill Stein and the Green Party are doing.
And to illustrate your point, here's a great video from one of my favourite YouTubers, without even mentioning any real life political parties or such