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Analysis | The problem for third parties? America is not a political free market. (www.washingtonpost.com)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

23 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Americans are deeply frustrated with politics. They see the country heading in the wrong direction. They are regularly forced to choose between two candidates they don’t particularly like. Between 40 and 50 percent of the country identifies not as Democrat or Republican but as independent.

Here is what it takes to get on the ballot in Pennsylvania. Read through that, noting the difference between candidates for “political parties” and “minor political parties.” Imagine you are thinking about putting forth a challenge to an incumbent state officeholder but don’t want to run as a Democrat or a Republican. What are the odds that you get tripped up by the rules?

The problem, of course, is that Americans have strong views about specific things on which they are often not going to be willing to compromise. The Forward essay criticizes the far left for wanting to get rid of guns and the far right for wanting to get rid of gun laws. But that’s not where the parties are, because the parties are responsive to the coalitions they’ve built. If you simply take some independents and sit them down — much less partisans! — you’re going to very quickly find a lot of important issues on which there is not a reachable consensus. Then what?

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Palestine I think... is a massive mess for a LOT of historical and well documented reasons.

But it also very much highlighted that people don't really even understand how to be a single issue voter. If you are pro-Palestine above all else? Good for you. Vote in your interests.

But even then, I am not aware of ANY election in the past year where it was "Pro-Palestine vs Anti-Palestine". it was more "Anti-Palestine vs Pro-Genocide". But, especially in the US, there was this idea that Biden deserved to lose because he was Anti-Palestine without any willingness to acknowledge that trump is pro-genocide.

Which gets back to why it is so much easier for one side (generally right wing) to unify. Because WE all want something and want to get it. They just want to make sure others DON'T get something.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

I don't disagree that Palestine is a big mess and we're not so much pro-Palestine as anti-Project 2025. I don't want to see Palestinians killed. That's why I'm voting Democrat, because historical precedence shows that one of two candidates will take office in November: The Republican (who has promised to accelerate Israel's murder and subjugation of the Palestinians) or the Democrat. Yes, I'd like an option besides the Republican and the Democrat, but until we dispose of the Electoral College AND get something like RCV, the only path to less genocide in Israel is Democrats, even if they are more wishy-washy on opposing Israel's murder and subjugation of Palestine. But all it takes is a few tens of thousands of people to be hoodwinked into voting third party in bitterly divided swing states and we all get Project 2025.