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Originally Posted by mcatdog
Originally Posted by thenonsequitur
At heart, I am as much libertarian as the next person that founds their belief structure on reason, but as a practical matter the libertarian party has no chance in the near future of having an impact on the federal government.
So what? If we can increase that party's share of the vote from 1-2% to 5-10% that will make a HUGE difference, as both parties will realize that libertarians form a significant portion of the population. They will make an effort to appeal directly to the voters that would otherwise vote to the Libertarian party. Personally, I've always been amused by the argument that voting for a third party is "throwing your vote away." Unless an election is decided by one vote, your vote doesn't make an immediate difference anyway. But in the long run, additional votes for a third party do make a difference because they shift the mainstream political spectrum in their direction. That's what the goal of a third party is, they're not really trying to get their candidates elected.
Regarding yesterday's elections, I agree with Lukie. I've never voted for a Democrat before and I voted a straight Democratic ticket yesterday because I'm so disgusted with what's become of the Republican Party.
I was talking with my ex yesterday (dont ask..) and all this stuff came up. I said that when I went in I planned to just vote democrat, except I did plan to vote green for gov. because the other candidates in illinois make me sick. The truth is I didnt do my research and I did not recognize any of the names. I got kinda frustrated and honestly felt that protest voting green was less of a throw away than auto voting dem. She just couldnt see this. I got really frustrated, she kept saying "well theyll never get elected so wahts the point." and "no one ever pays attention to them." Well no shit, thats because they dont get votes. However the green candidate for gov. was projected in the polls to get 10-15%!! Thats huge, and while the everyday person might not notice too much, the other candidates and thier parties certainly take notice. This is a huge problem with our political system. The two party system is broaken, but its inherent flaws drive on its existence.
btw I prob woulda thrown some votes at the libertarians however I saw none on the ballot, and didnt know if simply writing in "libertarian" would get the vote to them (and its a complete waste if they arent even running for that office.)
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