Perhaps that's his goal.

Or the goal of his masters, but he's too stupid to realize it.

The only way it would work is for the third party to be a MAGA party and soak up the malignancy from the Republican party like gauze soaking up pus from an infected wound.

that'll never happen. The America first concept has too much momentum with the republicans. MAGA is winning primaries, and the rhino flush is in full swing. They're not going anywhere.

The reverse may be true, an anti-MAGA (rhino) conservative party might split the Republican vote, saving the Dems from the hole they've dug themselves into..

cynical cash grab, this dumbass thing is gonna get a few giant checks from billionaire assholes and just spread it around consultants and shit like a little knockoff democratic party

Serious question for ye: Is it possible for USA to update their system and use proportional representation, or like, any alternative or upgrade?

Being stuck with a a first past the post system, is like, being stuck with a hereditary king or something. Many countries have changed those things over time.

Three parties on the ballot is how the Nazis seized power in Germany. I'm too lazy to google the date on my phone. I want to say 1934? The solution is runoff elections where no one cracks 50 per cent. I think we have that in a lot of places in America, but I'm not exactly sure where. We need them everywhere. If we had runoff elections in all cases, I think third parties would open up discussion.

Yesterday I saw an old Daily Show report on mandatory voting in Australia. It was explained that parties in Australia don't need to get out the vote, so parties are less dependent on their bases, always playing to their most ideological voters. You get fined 20 dollars. This is seen as anti-freedom by stupid Americans, but I wonder if we could just flip the process, and pay people 20 dollars to vote? The problem is things working badly in America benefits the minority Republicans. They're not going to want to fix anything.

liberals siding with fascists over the left is how nazis seized power in germany john

Crackersmack, you're correct.

All western countries should be very worried of the path we're on, but we keep dividing and pushing each other apart.

Looks like things will get much worst. The cold comfort is that hard core fascism, left, right, green, or medical, whatever version we end up with, doesn't usually last long.

Usually.

It is absolutely correct that FPTP voting makes 3rd party candidates spoilers at best. The worst possible candidate always wins if there's a noticeable split. The duopoly can only be overturned if some other system replaces it.

I take it that Ken Arrow's theorem is correct, and no matter what replaces FPTP will eventually show why it's also terrible. But maybe the system just needs to change every so often to keep the power structures from calcifying.

lol at the notion of the world rotating thru different power structures for fairness tho

The duopoly is our own creation and we can cast it off at any point. It's not necessary for anything. A political party is just people, ideas, and money, and the internet empowers us to form/dissolve these coalitions rapidly and effectively without the need for the centralized structure that was required when communication was much more difficult. Political parties are dead weight that voters have to drag around and constantly battle against.

@Meerkat: this quote from Ursula K LeGuin seems like it would be right up your alley: "We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings."

The same thing is true for the corrupt oligarchy we suffer under.

It’s very confusing that so many people think no one could possibly be evil AND dumb

Abraham Lincoln was elected by a 'third party' because the Whigs refused to meaningfully deal with the most urgent issues of their time, including slavery

Are you saying the Green party is seriously split 50/50 between Republicans and Democrats? That Ross Perot got half of his votes from Democrats?

The Green Party in my experience is mostly a bunch of people that would refuse to vote if not given a genuinely left option. You might get them to vote for Democrats if the candidate is like Bernie, but it's just flat-out insane to think that these same people are gonna go "oh I guess I'll just vote for Nancy Pelosi then" if the Greens are kept off the ballot.

That's just nonsense. I vote Green in elections because they are the best alignment for my beliefs (shortly: sustainability is key, we can't just keep writing cheques our bank accounts can't cash). But I put NDP signs on my yard because the NDP will stop the PC nitwits from fucking everything up. And I'm OK with the NDP winning in my riding until the Green party is actually viable.

In elections where there are no Green candidates in my riding I vote NDP. I always vote. Every election. Always.

Most of the Green local candidates I've talked to are techno-optimists, talking about solving climate change by getting everyone an electric car or something. I guess it's better than subsidizing GM instead but I don't see any party in Canada talking about realistic durable solutions.

Advocating a third party without a charge to the system is fundamentally retarded. And most third parties are themselves fundamentally retarded.

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