I agree that it would be good for a third party to become viable, but I don't think this is the election for that - same with 2004 and 2000. A friend (who is definitely normally in the third party category) sent out a big e-mail begging her friends to please not vote 3rd party this time. I'm not going to launch into the whole argument for why this isn't a good time to go that route, but she sent some articles along with it that I figure I might as well share:
(Also honestly it's my opinion that the best way to get a viable third party would be to start from the bottom - local politics, the state legislature, etc. - and then move upwards once you manage to get them established there. That said, of course, I'm a diehard democrat and always will be - but that doesn't mean I'm not more progressive than a lot of my party).
Meh, I'm pretty sure every election will be "too important to vote 3rd party". The fact is if someone REALLY doesn't like either candidate, I don't think "voting for the lesser evil" is the right thing to do. Now, if they like a major candidate but just don't agree 100% (like, only 90%) then yeah, suck it up and vote for the one who you mostly agree with. Anyway, I imagine 3rd party will benefit Obama, cuz most republicans I know are pretty fed up with their party but don't want to vote for "bigger government" (so would vote libertarian)
You can believe that all you want, but we've never been in as bad a position as we are right now. Yes, all of the elections since you've been old enough to vote have been like that, but it was not the case before, and it will not be the case sometime in the future. Voting for the person you dislike less is completely reasonable; it's a vote against the person who will most work against your interests. You're never going to agree with someone 100% of the time, or even 90%. And, well, frankly, a hell of a lot more than just some tiny % of people voting third party is going to have to be done to get a viable third party - the people who vote third party don't even vote for the same third party - so as far as I can tell, voting third party isn't doing much of anything at all. Again, you clearly disagree, and I've found that talking to people does not change their minds if they've already decided what they think, but if you think this election is not more important than the ones we've had when the country wasn't going to hell, then you're
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Beyond the Conventions by Norman Solomon http://www.huffingtonpost.com/norman-solomon/beyond-the-conventions_b_123953.html
Progressives and Obama: The Clash of Narratives http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/18/11047/
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Now, if they like a major candidate but just don't agree 100% (like, only 90%) then yeah, suck it up and vote for the one who you mostly agree with.
Anyway, I imagine 3rd party will benefit Obama, cuz most republicans I know are pretty fed up with their party but don't want to vote for "bigger government" (so would vote libertarian)
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Vote for someone different!
Mike
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http://www.alternet.org/democracy/92695/?page=entire
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