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What will it take for staunch Democrats to vote third party? (x.com)

submitted 1 week ago by CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work to c/usnews@beehaw.org

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.crimedad.work/post/151111

With the dust is settling from their defeat on Tuesday, it's becoming clearer that there was some incredible malpractice going on in the Democratic party. As shown in the tweet I linked, Biden delayed dropping out even though his team knew it was going to be a complete blowout for Trump. Then, we have Harris's campaign spending over a billion dollars and still losing all of the swing states she needed to win.

For all the Democrats who would never vote Republican and would have never voted third party, are you now considering voting third party in future elections? If not, what would it take?

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[–] millie@beehaw.org 19 points 1 week ago

How about we start with a third party that's actually serious about being a third party rather than just showing up every 4 years to syphon votes? Like, you know, a party that actually runs at the local level and participates in Democracy. One of the big differences between our "third parties" and minority political parties in Europe, for instance, is that theirs actually participate in government. They work at smaller levels of government rather than just expecting to somehow get a prime minister. They build coalitions. They foster voter confidence by actually doing something.

The closest thing we have to that is literally just Bernie Sanders on his own. One guy does a better job at being something resembling a third party than any existing third party in the United States. That's impressive for Bernie and absolutely pathetic for "third parties".

Second? Once those third parties build up some actual participation in government and develop coalitions, use that growing power to give themselves a mathematical chance of actually winning.

Third? Don't run a candidate until the first two are done. Because anything short of that is literally just enabling the Republicans to push both parties further and further to the right.

Do that and actually run on a platform I'd like to see more than Democratic neoliberalism and I'll put them in the first slot in my runoff or ranked choice or whatever vote. Until then? Not a chance in the world. I don't care how many times the DNC shoots themselves in the foot. Until the math is there and a party shows they're actually willing to participate in all levels of government I'm not interested in propping up one of two egotists and their "party".

I'd vote for Bernie in a ranked choice election in a second, though. I don't care if he's literally 100 years old.