Third Party Voting

Right now, liberally-minded people are in a bit of a bind, because we are stuck between a weak and a crazy place. Seems to me, the political picture looks a bit like this:

Step on a crack, break the Constitution’s back

Part of the issue, of course, is that right now the two primary parties in this country have largely forgotten themselves—who they are and why they even exist. They’ve become lost in the mire that is politics, and right now the viable candidates for both have failed to impress. The Republicans are stronger, because they have no problem breaking the rules and salting the earth to get what they want out of political negotiations, and the Democrats are less terrifying, but seem to accomplish virtually nothing in comparison. Also, right now the candidates for the parties fall somewhere on these respective spectra:

(Click on them if the blurring is as irritating to you as it is to me) 

Wondering where “Douchey” is? It’s the entire line.

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Sorry, I don’t have a little Obama figure for you to put somewhere on the line.

So, what to do? 

I’ve seen three solutions to the problem:

1. Vote for Obama anyway.
2. Vote for Ron Paul. 
3. Vote some other third party and stick it to the 2-party system.

If I leave the first option alone, since I already discussed Obama here, and pretend that people aren’t seriously considering the racist, homophobic, anti-EPA, pro-religion in schools, anti-separation of church and state wingnut that is Ron Paul (discussed beautifully and thoroughly, with sources, here), I still have to consider the third.

If a third party were to come up with a strong candidate—one with actual political experience, one who knows how the system works and can be strong within it, and one with enough charisma to carry a country, now would be the time. This country is filled with people who are disgruntled, angry, depressed, and disappointed. If ever there were a time to vote outside the two-party system, it’s now.

But here is why I don’t buy the third party argument, and I am plagiarizingexpanding on a reply I gave to thoughtful commenter Dana:

Let’s pretend we have a viable third-party candidate (we don’t). I still seriously doubt the option, because everybody who is disgruntled with the current situation would have to do it. The only way to make that statement is to get everybody (or at least a majority) to sign onto it and proudly and publicly so that other people won’t worry about being castigated or ridiculed for throwing votes away. Unless they vote for Nader, because, duh.

Every time somebody brings up a third party option, it’s like we are daring each other to break the mold, but ultimately we all know that not enough people will take up the dare and go with it, and that if not enough people take the dare, everybody will get hurt.

I would love for my country to prove me wrong on this, but my pessimism is getting the better of me.

So, people who insist that voting for a third party is the answer to all of our problems: How about finding a viable third-party candidate who is strong enough to make people consider voting outside of the two party system, and if you think you have such a candidate, do you know a feasible^† solution to getting enough people to vote for them without simply handing the election to a party that appears to be actively trying to destroy our country?

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^†By “feasible” I mean, “will actually work.”

ETA: There’s no good answer for the 2012 elections forthcoming, so I am putting forth my own third-party candidate:

Note: Beyonce + “Knock Knock, Motherfucker” belong to The Bloggess (if you haven’t read the relevant blog post, because you live under a rock in a barn in a cave in TibeChinAfrica, it’s here). The godawful Photoshop job is all me. Yeah, baby.

December 28, 2011 | Categories: Diagrams and Charts, Observations, Politics | Tags: 2012, bachmann, candidates, democrats, gingrich, ndaa, obama, perry, politics, president, presidential candidates, republicans, ron paul, third party voting | 12 Comments »