Biden picks Dr. Rachel Levine, transgender woman, as assistant health secretary in historic first

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[–]mvmlego 11 insightful - 1 fun11 insightful - 0 fun12 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

This sort of choice between two awful candidates that's plagued American politics won't get better until people see that the (very) long-term benefits of breaking the political duopoly outweigh the costs of losing an election or two, and vote third-party candidates into office to reform the voting system from FPTP to something more representative.

I think there's a potential solution to this problem, but the culture wars are eroding it: find someone IRL who you know and trust who despises the Democratic and Republican candidates as much as you do. Then, figure out whether they plan to vote for the opposite candidate that you do (in your case, they planned to vote for Trump) just to keep the other person (Biden) out of office. Then, make an agreement to both vote for a third-party candidate.

[–]wafflegaffWoman. SuperBi. 7 insightful - 4 fun7 insightful - 3 fun8 insightful - 4 fun -  (2 children)

outweigh the benefits of losing an election or two

Not when the fate of the entire world is at stake.

This needs to start at the local level and work its way up over time so there's actually a voter base that can win at a national level. Otherwise I agree, but dead people can't vote. We have to be alive to change this.

[–]mvmlego 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Not when the fate of the entire world is at stake.

I was no fan of Trump, but I don't see what you're getting at here. Regardless, my proposal still stands. The spoiler effect can be avoided by pairs of people with opposing political persuasions agreeing to vote for third parties. In other words, my proposal is a way to avoid losing elections to a potentially world-ending main-party candidate, while still accomplishing voting reform.

[–]wafflegaffWoman. SuperBi. 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This proposal has to work at scale, though, which is the problem. It is an interesting idea, however.

[–]hetisachoice 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

This third-party crap is just the same "third way" fallacy that enabled the existence of fascism in the first place. We don't need a third party. We don't need a second one. The GOP is the only political party this country needs.

We cannot wait for the next election; they will just rig it anyway like they rigged the general election, the primaries, and the mid-terms. We need to start from scratch.

[–]mvmlego 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

We do need more than one political party. Just as competition between corporations is good for the marketplace, competition between political parties helps keep the parties accountable.

Also, I don't understand your assertion that third parties enable fascism. The only way that I could potentially see that happening is the spoiler effect, which my plan is deliberately aimed at avoiding.