this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2024
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This is the kind of mindset that keeps people from voting third party.... "You're just throwing away your vote" and it's a self-fulfilling prophecy, because enough people believe it, and either don't vote as a result, or vote disingenuously, that nobody votes for third parties that they actually want in office.
The problem is self reinforcing too.
The fact is, if enough people are brave enough to "throw away their vote" by going for a third party, the momentum may push others that either are not voting, or are voting for a party they don't believe in, to vote for the third party that doesn't normally have a chance, to actually add their voice to the mix and those people may be enough to actually swing towards a third party.
This rhetoric is the exact same crap that OP is complaining about.
I understand why people don't want to "throw away their vote" on a candidate that isn't likely to win, which is why we need voting reform and an alternative to the FPTP voting that we currently "enjoy", so people can vote for who they actually want, and still not "throw away" their vote if that candidate doesn't get enough votes to get in.
Which makes it even more important for the right to maintain the current voting system. By gerrymandering the hell out of the districts, they can dilute more centrist and left-leaning areas into several strong conservative areas nearby, or concentrate undesirable voters into a single district, which is vastly out voted by the surrounding districts.
The whole thing has been manufactured to optimise the capacity for success for those who do not win the popular vote.
IMO, it's insane that a party can consistently win the popular vote, but not consistently win elections. It's crazy.
There is no mindset keeping people from voting third party. It's impossible for anything but a two party system to result from a First Past the Post system. It's not a bug, as they say, it's a feature.
There is no momentum, it will always fail. Go to Wikipedia and look up the article "Political Parties in the United States". They have a chart showing the popular vote break down going back to Washington. Check out 232 years of history telling you how ineffective and useless it is to vote 3rd party in our current system.
You have to get rid of the Electoral College and FPTP FIRST, before a vote for an alternate candidate will ever have any meaning. This isn't my opinion. It's reality, and it's time you joined it.
You don't need to worry about me messing up your two party system.
We have similar bullshit in my country.
And I'm sorry that you believe this. Truly I am.
I don't know. I know you are talking in general and not just this specific election, but for this cycle, if millions of people who would normally vote democrat are instead "brave enough to go for third-party", they are not just throwing away their votes. They would be helping Trump get elected in a landslide, and there is a credible risk they would lose the ability to vote at all in the future.
That's a fair argument. You're right, I'm talking generalities. I'm not American and it's easy to forget how close you guys are to a vote.
Big picture, yeah, there could be a movement. Realistically, it would only really happen if the voting system changed... Short of a major revolution or upheaval, that's not going to happen.... Sooooo....