There are choices beyond Trump and Clinton.
Evan McMullin says “I humbly offer myself as a leader who can give millions of disaffected Americans a conservative choice for president.”
“I am running with the only national party that does not take corporate funding,” says Jill Stein.
“I do believe that crony capitalism is alive and well. It’s Democrats and Republicans that contribute to that. I’d like to be that choice that is not going to succumb to that,” says Gary Johnson
Third candidate voting
The two things that must be foremost in any voter’s mind as they decide whether or not to vote for one of the two leading choices:
1). We have a “first-past-the-post” and winner-take-all election system.
2). In presidential elections, the electoral college chooses the president, and it is selected by the voters of each state on a state-by-state basis (except in Maine and Nebraska).
Also
Very true.
Another thing to note is that if minor parties get a solid percentage of the votes, they can grow into major parties. It takes some building, but neither the Dems or GOP were around when the country began.
It seems like both the Green and Libertarian parties will get a bit of a bounce this year. If they can poll well enough, they can be in debates.
Parties come and go. We might like to vote Whig, Readjuster, Farm-Labor, or Unconditional Union, but they have faded. : )
Seems like the traditional GOP of my lifetime is now gone, with the Democrats racing to implode right behind them. : )
(What did the Readjusters want to do?)
This Revolution an Effective Way for Me
For me participation in the political revolution listed below, is the first step and most effective in this election cycle.
I support/work for a 3rd party system, and yet for this time and place, for me, this is the best option for change we want to see in standing up to the present two party systemic oligarchy.
Rather than the end of the line for Bernie and the Revolution.. I am doubling my efforts.. Here is a letter and an invitation to participate:
“Political pundits and the billionaire class are watching very closely to see what Bernie supporters do next. Some of them might be tempted to believe our political revolution is toast.
They want our extraordinary phone banking, door knocking, and grassroots organizing efforts to stop. They want us to get discouraged. They want to vanquish our movement once and for all.
We aren’t going to let that happen.
That’s why, on the evening of August 24, we will kick off a new organization called Our Revolution with a major live stream address where Bernie will talk about the specifics of what we can do as organizers going forward to fight for every single issue that drove this campaign. In order to get as many people watching as possible, we need to set up grassroots watch parties all over the country.
The most important thing you can do today to move the political revolution forward: Sign up to host one of these events on August 24 at 9pm ET / 6pm PT.
I’LL HOST A WATCH PARTY
Bernie’s said from the very beginning that no one person can alone accomplish what must be done to turn our country around. We all must do our part.
I hope to see your event listed on our website. It’s an honor to be with you in this movement.
In solidarity,
Claire Sandberg
Our Revolution
Paid for by Our Revolution
(not the billionaires)
603 2nd St NE, Washington, DC 20002 | (855) 4-BERNIE”
https://berniesanders.com/stream/
Sign up at the bottom of the video, and you will be notified of the event, and can sign up to host the event, or attend upcoming events.
If anyone has a better link, please reply. Much appreciated.
Cleaning Up the Old while Creating the New
Bernie Supporters played a part in this Change to the Democratic Primary System which 6 months ago was thought impossible to accomplish. Some are working for the best way to defeat Trump this election cycle, make reforms with the Dems now, and working on a viable 3rd party system at the same time. Some folks are working for and-both rather than either- or.
Here is a step in that direction:
“Two weeks ago in Philadelphia, MoveOn members and our allies scored a partial victory when, giving in to grassroots pressure, the Democratic Party Rules Committee voted to reform and greatly reduce the power of the superdelegates! 1.
During the Democratic National Convention, members of the MoveOn staff attended the Rules Committee meeting to deliver more than 500,000 signatures demanding that voters, not superdelegates, decide the outcome of Democratic primaries.
A number of the Rules Committee members, many of them delegates supporting Bernie Sanders, pushed until an agreement was reached that will result in a two-thirds reduction in the total number of superdelegates.
Collectively, your efforts, along with those of our progressive partners and DNC delegates, have made our democracy stronger and provided a fairer way to choose the next Democratic nominee.
This process to end superdelegates within the Democratic Party will take at least a year or more to complete. As this process moves forward, it’ll be up to all of us to keep a watchful eye on this important journey.” MoveOn.org
keep on movin'
I have to say, despite all the negativity about the major party candidates, this election cycle has demonstrated clearly that the pendulum is swing back to the left.
Stepping back a bit, the droplet of support for Nader was a turning point. That led to anti-war protests, the Howard Dean campaign, Occupy Wall Street, etc. The Sanders comes along and ties a bunch of the underlying issues into a damn-near winning campaign. Clinton may have squeaked by to get the nomination, but I think the pendulum will continue to head to the left for Democrats over the next decade. It is clear that there are millions of people that have been given permission to ask for changes, and they plan to regardless of who wins in November.
Speaking of which, Sanders is the only one guaranteed to be in office come November. : ) Hopefully he will be proposing some legislation, and smart Democrats will back him up.
Part of a long history
Like your take and yet, being somewhat old and before Nader’s time, I like to think that it was hard workers who were the turning point that led to “The droplet of support for Nader”.
I Think the 30’s Unionists, urban workers and later civil right-ers and other on- the- grounders were the impetus too, that finally reached (is reaching) the parties-government including Nader and more.
Thank you for your point that the history continues on, and your hope for Sanders to propose legislation and smart people to back him up. Your point/reflection helps me.
Hopefully that support will include, Dems, Independents and/or Third Party Proponents and more like the anti-slavery movement folks across all aisles
( Example: Sanders and the Immokalee Workers ) and more.
And, we don’t have to wait until Bernie proposes legislation. Perhaps we can pull off this challenge Bernie is backing, right now: (I would love to see Debbie Wasserman dethroned )
“I’ve endorsed a candidate, Tim Canova, who is challenging the former head of the Democratic Party Debbie Wasserman Schultz in Florida.
This race is very important for Our Revolution because if we can win this tough fight in Florida, it will send a clear message about the power of our grassroots movement that will send shockwaves through the political and media establishments. The latest poll shows us within reach.
July 31 Poll
Debbie Wasserman Schultz: 46%
Tim Canova: 38%
Undecided: 16% ”