A Question For Progressives

[tpeichel]

It's not that I "support" them, it's that I have no choice but to vote for one or the other.

This is the destructive false dichotomy that U.S politics have created.

If I didn't vote for Obama, it's the same as voting for Romney.

If I don't vote for a democrat, it's the same as voting for the GOP.

In other countries they have more than 2 major political parties.

For someone who claims to value reason and logic, that belief is illogical. If CandidateA has 1,000,000 votes and CandidateB has 1,000,000 votes, not voting for CandidateA does not increase the vote total of CandidateB to 1,000,001.

If you truly believed the Democrats were so bad, you wouldn't support them by voting for them.

[JustAlex]

For someone who claims to value reason and logic, that belief is illogical. If CandidateA has 1,000,000 votes and CandidateB has 1,000,000 votes, not voting for CandidateA does not increase the vote total of CandidateB to 1,000,001.

If you truly believed the Democrats were so bad, you wouldn't support them by voting for them.

No.

It's consistently logical.

Pretend we're in a classroom of 20 students.

2 have been chosen to run as classroom president, I don't like either, but I notice that one is MUCH worse than the other, so I decide to vote for the "lesser of two evils".

Let's say that with my vote the final tally is 10-10 for the guy I voted.

If I abstain, then it would be 9-10.....it's the equivalent to voting for the other guy since there is one less vote for the one I wanted.

How did you not see that?


And I DON'T support the Democrats, I only vote for them because I can't stand the GOP, they are the epitome of everything I disagree with.

As they say, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

If only for elections.

[ajcorleone]

You could always vote independent if you like neither side

No.

It's consistently logical.

Pretend we're in a classroom of 20 students.

2 have been chosen to run as classroom president, I don't like either, but I notice that one is MUCH worse than the other, so I decide to vote for the "lesser of two evils".

Let's say that with my vote the final tally is 10-10 for the guy I voted.

If I abstain, then it would be 9-10.....it's the equivalent to voting for the other guy since there is one less vote for the one I wanted.

How did you not see that?


And I DON'T support the Democrats, I only vote for them because I can't stand the GOP, they are the epitome of everything I disagree with.

As they say, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

If only for elections.

[tpeichel]

Like it or not, the reality is that you support the political party that has executed U.S. citizens without due process, has spied on U.S. citizens to an unprecedented extent, has deemed reporters like James Rosen a criminal for revealing classified information, is responsible for gathering phone records of AP reporters as part of a leak investigation, lied to the American public about what happened in Benghazi and to this day refuses to reveal what the President was doing during this tragedy, encouraged the IRS (though we do not know to what extent) to target Tea Party groups prior to the 2012 election, and has claimed that Snowden is a criminal for revealing the secret spying that the administration is doing that is a criminal violation of the U.S. Constitution!

Yet you continue to support them because why? They want to tax the rich?

You really need to lay out why you think the Republican Party is so much worse than the enemy of liberty and freedom that currently occupies the White House.

[centrehice]

You will find the IRS activities fraught with inaccuracies and lies from the Tea Lagoon. You are making this sound like spying is a new Democratic idea, when you can go back to Nixon on your own side and see something much worse.

You aren't for America, you are for your own old-fashioned Republican white way, which I might remind you, is gone forever.

[tpeichel]

You will find the IRS activities fraught with inaccuracies and lies from the Tea Lagoon. You are making this sound like spying is a new Democratic idea, when you can go back to Nixon on your own side and see something much worse.

You aren't for America, you are for your own old-fashioned Republican white way, which I might remind you, is gone forever.

Incorrect and irrelevant to this topic.

Republicans have been siphoning power away from the states just as much as Democrats, so you won't see me arguing that one party is better than the other. They are two sides of the same coin.

[Wickabee]

Guys, all alex is trying to say is that his vote only matters if he votes for one or the other.
We can get into the validity of that if you want.

[mrveggieman]

You could always vote independent if you like neither side

On the cool, I really liked Gary Johnson during the 2012 election. However he did not have a snowman's chance in hell of winning so a vote for him would have been one less vote for President Obama which in turn would have been akin to voting for twit romney.

[tpeichel]

With the corrupt incompetence of the Obama Administration, do people really feel like there Obama vote was valuable? How is supporting either of the existing parties doing anything to improve life in America?

[Wickabee]

On the cool, I really liked Gary Johnson during the 2012 election. However he did not have a snowman's chance in hell of winning so a vote for him would have been one less vote for President Obama which in turn would have been akin to voting for twit romney.

This is the exact attitude that keeps you a two party system. It's going to take a few before it becomes a lot. Be the few. Stop following and lead for a change.