Note: This is a press of an article written in Salon.com…..I do NOT agree with their conclusion…..but in all fairness I would like to offer this critique to my readers……
For the last 25 years , probably longer, I have been voting outside the box in general elections…….meaning I have been a supporter of third party candidates.
I do not agree with all those weirdos that say I am throwing my vote away when I vote for an alternative candidate……what they want is for the voter to just accept the two worthless major party candidates and vote for the least objectionable one.
The American electorate goes to the polls in November to elect the next President of the United States. To be fair, a little more than half of the eligible U.S. population votes in presidential elections—57.5 per cent in 2012. The rest of the voters do not bother. They either find it too onerous to get to the polling booths (the election is conducted on a workday) or they simply do not find the choices vibrant enough. This election is not an ordinary election. The two candidates are the most hated people to run for the U.S. presidency. Polling data show that the two of them, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, are running very close to each other. What seems to drive voters to the candidates is not enthusiasm for them but dislike of the opponent.
Source: Clinton Trump Avoid Issues – LA Progressive
To me…that is a thrown away vote!
This article in Salon is a perfect illustration of how the press wants the elections to go……
The problem is that a presidential race is not the place to air these views if one is not a truly viable presidential candidate. Relegated to the low-single digits in the polls (Public Policy Polling’s latest national poll has these three candidates pulling a collective 9 percent), the Libertarians and the Green Party are a sideshow, entertaining us mostly by being silly distractions from the intense, constant, laser-like focus on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his rival Hillary Clinton.
Their assumptions are BULLSHIT!
They are basing this on polls which at best are a mere sideshow to reality….it is a popularity contest that is skewed in whatever direction they want it to be.
Personally I look at platform……let’s say candidate A has a 10 point platform (usually more) and you agree with 8 of the points and candidate B also has a 10 point plan and you agree with 3…..why would I vote for the lesser?
I do not look for popularity in a candidate but rather sound platform points.
This is why there is no viable 3rd party candidacy…..the media and the pundits do not want a 3rd party and they will use every mean available to keep it the same 2 stale and outta touch parties.
I refuse to allow any media outlet determine who my candidate for president will be.
As long as the population allows this to continue we will NEVER have a true “open” election. I agree with Dr. Stein…..”I would rather go down swinging than committing politician suicide by voting for either of the two major candidates” (a paraphrase)…..
A lot of it is our winner-take-all-by-state system of counting votes… see Instant Runoff Voting (aka Ranked Choice Voting), and also Proportional Representation. Actually, Maine has a ballot initiative this year to put into their state constitution… I really hope it passes. NY State has a mechanism for doing this too, we have to call a state constitutional convention (that itself requires a ballot initiative, which is usually there but voters generally aren’t interested in a state constitutional convention)…
I agree with all you say….and I tip my hat to the states that are attempting to do the right thing….there is a problem…thgere are too many ways to stop these attempts and too damn many places that must change….kinda looks grim for a nation wide ref….
Reblogged this on AGR Daily News Service.
I appreciate the re-blog….chuq
Weirdos? Grin – Been called worse – at least I think I have been. Irish went down swinging for hundreds of years until they accepted a compromise and at least got their Republic. Eventually NI will join up. Proportional Representation is not magic. Feet on the street turn wannabe parties into real parties. Greens in US not that. Wish they were but do not think they are anything but unrepentant Anderson Independent Voters of America – grin.
Yep!
I also agree with Dr. Stein’s statement. But, I think she should take the higher ground and not associate her Campaign, in any way, with theirs.