Vote For Someone Else

NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman explains why “we need a third party on the stage of the next presidential debate”:

The best our current two parties can produce today — in the wake of the worst existential crisis in our economy and environment in a century — is suboptimal… Suboptimal is O.K. for ordinary times, but these are not ordinary times. We need to stop waiting for Superman and start building a superconsensus to do the superhard stuff we must do now. Pretty good is not even close to good enough today.

We have to rip open this two-party duopoly and have it challenged by a serious third party

“If competition is good for our economy,” asks Diamond, “why isn’t it good for our politics?”

We need a third party on the stage of the next presidential debate to look Americans in the eye and say: “These two parties are lying to you. They can’t tell you the truth because they are each trapped in decades of special interests. I am not going to tell you what you want to hear. I am going to tell you what you need to hear…

Read the rest.

Over the last few years I have become very acquainted with politics. I formed my views during the Bush presidency, and they have remained rather stable since then. I disagreed with just about everything George Bush did as president. I disagreed with his economic policies, his foreign policies, and his huge power grab for the executive. However, upon voicing my opinions I was referred to by republicans as un-American and unpatriotic. I felt this sort of ignorant name-calling was unique to the neoconservative side of the American political system. However, recent events have proven me wrong.

Ever since Barack Obama entered office and his policies have come under attack from Americans in opposition to them, I have noticed something about democrats: they are not immune from using ignorant, ad hominem attacks. I can’t say I was surprised by this fact, but I am severely disheartened and ashamed of the democrats for allowing themselves to fall into this trap. I had gotten used to republican propaganda, which went so low as to use September 11^th as a whipping boy for all of us who refused to believe that preventative war was needed to provide security. I got used to the phrase, “If you don’t like America you can get out!” They almost had me convinced I hated America until I remembered that my arguments were based on facts and statistics, instead of emotionally charged personal attacks. However, where democrats once stood with me in opposing these irrational accusations, they are now the accusers.

Read the rest here.

Last night, Free and Equal Elections sponsored a third-party debate which aired live on C-SPAN.  Only Chuck Baldwin and Ralph Nader showed up.  You can watch the whole thing here:

C-SPAN also has it in its archives, but I couldn’t get it to play.

Be honest. What have you learned from the first two presidential debates? Do you expect to be any more enlightened by Wednesday night’s third and final showdown between Barack Obama and John McCain?

If you’re like my friends and associates outside the newsroom, you’re setting the bar pretty low. If these “debates” have proven anything, they confirm our two-party choice is dumb and dumber (you pick).

…

“We have a one-party system designed by the parties,” Nader said this spring in the shadow of Philadelphia’s historic Independence Hall. Would the Founding Fathers be impressed with what’s onstage at Hofstra University Wednesday night? I’m betting they’d vote independent.

[Full Story]

When asked why they will not vote for a third party candidate, many people will respond by saying something like, “He cannot win.” Or, “I don’t want to waste my vote.” It is true: America has not elected a third party candidate since 1860. Does that automatically mean, however, that every vote cast for one of the two major party candidates is not a wasted vote? I don’t think so.

In the first place, a wasted vote is a vote for someone you know does not represent your own beliefs and principles. A wasted vote is a vote for someone you know will not lead the country in the way it should go. A wasted vote is a vote for the “lesser of two evils.” Or, in the case of John McCain and Barack Obama, what we have is a choice between the “evil of two lessers.”

Albert Einstein is credited with saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result. For years now, Republicans and Democrats have been leading the country in the same basic direction: toward bigger and bigger government; more and more socialism, globalism, corporatism, and foreign interventionism; and the dismantling of constitutional liberties. Yet, voters continue to think that they are voting for “change” when they vote for a Republican or Democrat. This is truly insane!

[Full Article]

This is just funny. This is from a interview during the primaries. Sarah Palin says she likes Ron Paul and his independence from the party machine and partisanship, I wonder if she still believes that.

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[Full Interview]

Democracy Now! interviewed the founder and executive director of Open Debates, George Farah.

Farah: [Y]ou’re not going to see any third party voices in tonight’s debate. The Republican, Democratic parties, who exert near absolute control over these public forums, have determined and made sure that no third party voices are ever seen on the debate stage and can challenge their dominance of our political system.

Read the transcript of the interview or watch the entire show (which includes some very good discussion on the bailout, among other things).  The problems with the CPD are even worse than I thought.

If you really don’t like either of the main candidates but you are afraid that a third-party vote would be wasted or worse, help the “other guy”, then consider making a VotePact with someone from the other side:

The Problem:

Most voters don’t vote for—often don’t even consider voting for—third parties because they view voting for a third party as helping the establishment party they most dislike. Disenchanted Democrats continue to vote for Democrats because they don’t want Republicans; disenchanted Republicans continue to vote for Republicans because they don’t want Democrats.

VotePact.org—The Solution:

Disenchanted Republicans should pair up with disenchanted Democrats and both vote for third party or independent candidates they more genuinely want. This way they siphon off votes by twos from each of the establishment parties. This liberates the voters to vote their actual preference from among those on the ballot, rather than to just pick the “least bad” of the two majors.

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Here is the inspiring reaction from a young woman who was offered an honor that thousands would have considered a dream‑come‑true:

I was one of the few Ole Miss students who had a seat waiting for them at the Ford Center during the first presidential debate. That’s right, I was one of the 150 UM students who was allocated a ticket to the debate. There are over 17,700 students that attend Ole Miss and only 150 out of over 17,700 were reserved tickets to the debate. I was given an opportunity of a lifetime and I didn’t go…

So now your probably wondering what the hell I was thinking. Well I will tell you exactly what I was thinking.

I was thinking about the fact that this nation has the largest national debt in the whole world. I was thinking about the fact that over half a million people have died in the Iraq war and that over 4000 of those people are our men and women in uniform. I was thinking of the economic crisis that is taking a toll on our country and the inflation of our dollar. I was thinking about the jeopardy of my civil liberties and how they have been stepped upon.

Barack Obama and John Mccain have both voted on legislation that has helped lead us into the economic crisis we are currently in, and Obama and McCain have both voted on legislation that has denied us certain civil liberties that are protected in the constitution. And Obama and McCain both want to stay in Iraq indefinitely.

Both of these men are two evils and I refuse to have to worry about choosing the lesser of two evils.

Barack Obama and John McCain are not the only candidates on the ballot, however they were the only ones invited to the debate. Every other third party candidate should have been at that debate but they weren’t.

I don’t admire Barack Obama or John McCain. These are two men I have no respect for. These men have constantly ignored the true issues facing our nation and both will lead us into an even larger train wreck. Frankly listening to these two men pretend to care about the well being of our nation is pure torture, and that is something I refuse to do upon myself, which is exactly why I refused to go to the debate.

I am one the founding members of the UM Constitutionalists, and we are trying to advocate the None of the Above campaign. To learn more about us here is a video of one of our more recent PR exposures:
http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=7524909&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1

Asma Al-Sherri is a freshman political science major at the University of Mississippi.

Another great news clip featuring the UM Constitutionalists from Ole Miss.  These guys are doing amazing things, and kudos are also due to the Fox 13 guys for putting together a great segment.

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