Joe -
All very interesting, but I would suggest reading the books I
recommended a few posts back to understand the issues and some of the
(possibly feasible) solutions.
I appreciated your suggestions during a previous thread on Politics:
/
Democracy Lost, by Lawrence Lessig, Harvard Law professor - the
corrupting influence of money on Washington //
//
//The Price of Inequality, by Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Laureate in
Economics - the increasing inequality in the US and its impact, as
well as various responses to conservative economic orthodoxies //
//
//It's Even Worse Than It Looks, by Thomas E. Mann (Brookings
Institution) and Norman J. Ornstein (American Enterprise Institute)
- why congress is almost completely ineffectual and what might be
done about it. /
I am, in fact familiar with some of these writers works and ideas and
generally agree with them and think their ideas are important.
I'm focusing on raising awareness for the need to break the bipartisan
stranglehold on elections (and public debate) right now simply because
the opportunity is here right now... our nose is being rubbed in how
lame the process and structure of Presidential Campaigns, Debates,
Elections have become.
Lessig addresses this more than the other two I think.
I definitely don't think that it is nearly enough to introduce a third
(or several more) parties. But it might be necessary?
- Steve
On 10/4/12 2:19 PM, Steve Smith wrote:
Doug -
I'm voting for Gary as my mechanism for voting against Romney, and
lackluster Obama.
I don't know how accurate/useful/neutral this particular map is:
http://freedomslighthouse.net/2012-presidential-election-electoral-vote-map/
But it suggests to me that many who are voting for Obama to vote
*against* Romney/'Pubs/etc. can afford to risk "wasting" their vote
by voting *for* any third party. And alternatively, those who might
actually *want* Romney might accept that he's not happening this time
around and vote *for* the choice of a third party. My personal
preference *is* Gary Johnson despite my general mistrust of
self-declared Liberatarians. I think he could do a better job
handling the *important* issues for *both* parties than the
candidates fielded.
I'm very conflicted about Obama's performance... I understand the
general malaise represented by your desription as "lackluster"... but
I'm also willing to see him in for 4 more years. It looks pretty
likely he will get that chance.
Meanwhile I want to vote *for* third party representation and
alternatives to Red/Blue. This looks like the chance.
For those who are interested, BTW, https://voterview.state.nm.us/
will let you look up your registration status. It seems a little
too easy to look up (name, birthdate?) but I guess this *is* public
information?!
The psuedo-debates on Democracy Now with the Green and the Justice
party gave me hope... neither of the candidates came off as
whackadoodles... which I'm not sure I can say for Romney (though the
constrained/scripted debate format helps hide that side of him).
- Steve
--Doug
On Thu, Oct 4, 2012 at 1:40 PM, Steve Smith <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
I've been out of the mix for a while, so I missed this:
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/JohnsonL
So Gary is not laying down, just being (mostly) ignored. He's
made the ballot in all 50 states apparently...
I'm hoping that in every non-battleground state, folks will not
be afraid to vote for their third-party candidate of choice.
Even Mickey Mouse, Alfred E. Neumann or your favorite pet.
In battleground states, it is a harder question... the arguments
against "splitting the vote" are real, which demands a change in
the election laws to break the bipartisan deadlock.
As many of you may know, I'm a big proponent of breaking the
polarization of our two-party system. Here is Democracy Now's
attempt to subvert the lock-out created by the two major
parties and maintained by myriad interests:
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/10/4/expanding_the_debate_exclusive_third_party
How many of us even knew there WAS a Green and a Justice Party
candidate? I assume some have not even heard of Libertarian
candidate Gary Johnson... if he wasn't an NM homeboy, *I* might
not have known about him.
Here is a short piece on the "conspiracy" behind this lockout...
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/10/3/ahead_of_first_obama_romney_debate
I tend to trust DN's accuracy in reporting, despite their clear
bias. The facts laid out here are pretty damning.
I'm personally sorry that Gary Johnson wasn't available for
this, I would like to believe it is truly logistics, not lack
of interest on his part for not being there for this.
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--
Doug Roberts
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins
505-455-7333 - Office
505-670-8195 - Cell
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--
"Sunlight is the best disinfectant."
-- Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, 1913.
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