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Lord Emperor Cheeto declares third parties are garbage

intranets's picture
Submitted by intranets on Sat, 09/13/2008 - 7:04pm

It's on the front page over in Cheetoland that

"even if by Election Day, many of those Nader voters (and not a few of those Barr supporters) will likely fall in line and decide their vote shouldn't be thrown away."

First of all, we need viable third parties more now than ever. Secondly, I think his Highness Keeper of the Gates will be surprised in November how many people choose third party candidates over the sleaziness of McCain and the smarmy-ness of Obama.

Maybe some people still believe we should be out of Iraq, or believe our economy can't afford more tax cuts, or maybe that you should leave Social Security alone. Maybe there are more than 1 or 2% that think the surge was not a spectacular success.

(no cartoon cats were harmed in the making of this post)

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illusionofjoy's picture
Submitted by illusionofjoy on

...two things happen:

1.) Instant run-off voting via candidate ranking replaces simple majority tallies from the polling booth.

And 2.) The Electoral College is reformed in such a way that Electors vote proportionally in all 50 states based on the popular vote percentages of their state, rather than the current winner-take-all system (this has happened historically, but only currently occurs in Nebraska and Maine).

Make those two reforms and third parties (which could no longer accurately be referred to as such) will have a shot against the current Republican/Democratic duopoly.

DCblogger's picture
Submitted by DCblogger on

Lord Cheeto senses there is much dissastisfaction, but conveniently thinks it will go away by itself without the necessity of Obama or the OFB of addressing the concerns.

I am voting for Obama. The more I see of McSame and Palin's war mongering, the more I think it is important that Obama win. Others can judge for themselves.

Damon's picture
Submitted by Damon on

You're not dissatisfied, enough, if you've already allocated your vote to a candidate.

I think run-offs would make a helluva difference. I think a few state-level offices have run-offs. I know, for sure, that Louisiana has non-partisan primaries and then run-offs are triggered if no candidate gains a majority of the vote.

Damon's picture
Submitted by Damon on

These candidates fuck up after they get elected is a whole other issue. My only concern on this particular issue we're discussing are those things that help third parties, and run-offs allow them a fighting chance.

Submitted by hipparchia on

i'll admit i didn't read it carefully all the way through, but the takeaway i took away from reading article on louisiana's system [which isn't the same as irv] is that their system was even worse for getting 3rd parties or independents into power.

Damon's picture
Submitted by Damon on

I was only talking about the run-off being good for third parties, not so much the non-partisan ballot. And, I was really only noting that Louisiana has run-offs, not that their particular model is a good model for third party politics. Hope that clears things up.