Americans are deeply frustrated with politics. They see the country heading in the wrong direction. They are regularly forced to choose between two candidates they don’t particularly like. Between 40 and 50 percent of the country identifies not as Democrat or Republican but as independent.
Here is what it takes to get on the ballot in Pennsylvania. Read through that, noting the difference between candidates for “political parties” and “minor political parties.” Imagine you are thinking about putting forth a challenge to an incumbent state officeholder but don’t want to run as a Democrat or a Republican. What are the odds that you get tripped up by the rules?
The problem, of course, is that Americans have strong views about specific things on which they are often not going to be willing to compromise. The Forward essay criticizes the far left for wanting to get rid of guns and the far right for wanting to get rid of gun laws. But that’s not where the parties are, because the parties are responsive to the coalitions they’ve built. If you simply take some independents and sit them down — much less partisans! — you’re going to very quickly find a lot of important issues on which there is not a reachable consensus. Then what?
Inb4 .ml downvote brigade arrives :/
It’s really frustrating knowing how many people just refuse to understand the 3p dynamic here in the states, and as a result, vote in ways that are ultimately actively harmful to their own interests and goals.
I find that they get outshouted roughly on a 2 to 1 ratio if engagement from the rest of Lemmy is good about posting/interacting. That tells me I’m doing a better job of connecting to people and pushing the ideas I want pushed. It’s a small effort, but I’m just one person, but if we end up with Harris this November and Trump and his shitheads are sent packing, all’s good, as an old German textbook I had was titled (“Alles Gute” but same deference).
Thanks for replying!