LP's are all over the place. They think they're the center but they have just as many left-wing-nuts as they do right-wing-nuts.
On Wed, Feb 17, 2010 at 11:05 AM, Justin Scott <[email protected]> wrote: > >> The problem is, I'm more frightened of the radical wing >> of the R's than the radical wing of the D's. So when I >> go to the polling station, all other things equal and >> knowing how much party line plays into things, I'll check >> the D box. > > Yes, and that just about sums up what is wrong with the way Americans > participate in their democracy. Most people do not vote for what they want. > They vote to prevent what they are afraid of. I spent a couple of years > working closely with the local affiliate of the Libertarian Party doing > outreach and working public events and such. Some people I talked to agreed > more with the LP than the democrats or republicans on policy issues, but > told me they couldn't vote for an LP candidate essentially for one reason: > fear. They were afraid the democrats would win, or they were afraid the > republicans would win, so they had to vote the other way to make sure those > evil people they hated so much wouldn't have power. They said that they > didn't believe an LP candidate could win and they would be "wasting" or > "throwing away" their vote and helping the evil side to win if they didn't > vote "against" the hated party. > > I see this as a flawed way to cast a vote. Vote for what you WANT, not > against what you hate. If enough people would just do that one simple > thing, additional political parties would actually be viable. At the time, > the LP was the third largest political party in the country (it's been a > while and I haven't checked recently to see if that is still the case) and > we still couldn't scratch the surface. It's unfortunate that as a nation > we've become locked into this two-party hate-fest where we are simply voting > against the "other" guy and not FOR what we really want. > > Unfortunately I do not know how to convince people that this is the wrong > way to participate in a democracy. I know I've tried, and I gave up after > hearing the same fear-based response from thousands of people that I talked > to. I'll end by saying that the LP isn't perfect either, I have no > illusions about that. Many people I spoke with agree with more of their > ideas than the current major parties but are afraid to do anything about it > out of fear and loathing for whatever party they fear the most. > > Personally, I think instant runoff voting would alleviate these fears and > give other parties a chance, but it would take the current powers to make > that change. Since they know it would hurt them in the long run they fight > that voting method hard every time someone brings it up. At least they > agree on something in that ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:312190 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
