Ed Electoral College

psionl0 said:
So you are not really interested in democracy. You just want a system that gives the candidate of your choice a greater chance of winning.
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Excuse me, but there is nothing in the concept of democracy that requires a majority of the eligible population to support a single party in order for that party to have a mandate. What about states with more than two major parties?

In fact, the only thing that democracy implies is power from the people. That's it. That says nothing about how that power translates into the processes of government.

Hell, I'd argue that too much democracy is just about as bad as too little.
 
WilliamSeger said:
Or, it's the intellectually lazy way to achieve intellectual smugness. :p
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Being a staunch third party supporter in America? Pretty much. I was just thinking the other day how exhausting it gets having to dislike every single thing in politics that occurs.
 
BobTheCoward said:
Being a staunch third party supporter in America? Pretty much. I was just thinking the other day how exhausting it gets having to dislike every single thing in politics that occurs.
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My opinion of third parties is that the two major parties already encompass "wings" that are the equivalent of multiple parties forming a coalition, but still with fairly substantial differences between them, and they duke it out for leadership in the primaries. If you can't win the primaries for one of the major parties, then there's no reason to think you could win the general in a three-way race.
 
WilliamSeger said:
My opinion of third parties is that the two major parties already encompass "wings" that are the equivalent of multiple parties forming a coalition, but still with fairly substantial differences between them, and they duke it out for leadership in the primaries. If you can't win the primaries for one of the major parties, then there's no reason to think you could win the general in a three-way race.
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There really isn't a place for the libertarians or the ancaps.
 
BobTheCoward said:
There really isn't a place for the libertarians or the ancaps.
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Rand Paul stood a much better chance of winning the Republican nomination than Gary Johnson had of winning the general. Ron Paul had a better chance of winning the Republican nomination in 2008 and 2012 than he did of winning any of the three elections he ran in as a Libertarian.
 
WilliamSeger said:
Rand Paul stood a much better chance of winning the Republican nomination than Gary Johnson had of winning the general. Ron Paul had a better chance of winning the Republican nomination in 2008 and 2012 than he did of winning any of the three elections he ran in as a Libertarian.
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If I aligned with Rand Paul to a significant degree that would be cool.
 
BobTheCoward said:
If I aligned with Rand Paul to a significant degree that would be cool.
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Yeah, well, the curse of democracy is that the best each of us can really hope for is a President that we mostly agree with. That still beats the hell out of the alternative.
 
WilliamSeger said:
Yeah, well, the curse of democracy is that the best each of us can really hope for is a President that we mostly agree with. That still beats the hell out of the alternative.
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I can't say I even somewhat agree.

Would you participate if there were only two left parties or only two right parties?
 
Argumemnon said:
Baw ha ha! I was wondering when Phiwum would get that treatment in this thread. It's amazing to me how hostile people can be towards others who don't quickly and decisively "pick a side" in a debate or argument.
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I have always been slow to pick a side when I don't think I know enough to be confident. Many see that as disingenuity, others as a weakness, whereas I regard it as the hallmark of skepticism.
 
WilliamSeger said:
My opinion of third parties is that the two major parties already encompass "wings" that are the equivalent of multiple parties forming a coalition, but still with fairly substantial differences between them, and they duke it out for leadership in the primaries. If you can't win the primaries for one of the major parties, then there's no reason to think you could win the general in a three-way race.
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Considering how polarised politics has become in the US, it seems like the two-party system doesn't work as well as some'd like us to believe.
 
BobTheCoward said:
I can't say I even somewhat agree.
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Oh, c'mon, you can say it.

Would you participate if there were only two left parties or only two right parties?
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Who is defining "left" and "right," and does it really matter? The whole point of this democracy thing is that all qualified voters get to participate in electing leaders. Plotting people and parties on your preferred ideological graph might be interesting but it's really irrelevant. If there are only two viable candidates, then yes, I will participate in whatever process is available to express my preference.
 
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