Patrick McLaughlinYes, yes, the Dems are inadequate.
But they’re not aggressively and maliciously monstrous.
And no, a third party has no chance of winning at this time and place.
And *monstrous* is the price of trying.
This isn’t complex, FFS.
Espinada@McPatrick @StillIRise1963 the only way a third party candidate would win is if he/she were to be overwhelmingly liked by the great majority of the people in the country. (It’ll also be someone you have to be very cautious about.)
@zuzuruz
Two plausible paths:
1. Dems fracture. GOP wins all the marbles, we get full Florida-grade Fascism for 1-3 generations, at least.
2. GOP fractures. The saner bit flirts with the corporatist/moderate Dems, and an actual left-of center party spins off of this firmly right-of-centered Democratic Party.
The latter path requires waiting, and denying the Fascists success. And entrenching what good can be before the centrists sell out.
Grassroots Joe@zuzuruz @McPatrick @StillIRise1963
Never say never, but even with a seemingly popular candidate of such magnitude, they are still likely to be buried by Party loyalty driven home by the ground game machinery of the major Parties (never mind months of attack ads).
Certainly in 2024 there is a near zero chance of a 3rd Party win in any state let alone nationally.
@joeinwynnewood @zuzuruz @StillIRise1963
Every effort I’ve seen has been quixotic (at best). Intent on “saving” us right now, winning the presidency — and then **magic**.
A serious effort will be a national coalition trying to elect people to local offices. And having done so, achieving successes to point to and politicians with a record, to move up the ladder over multiple elections.
But we want a quick fix. And it’s not there.
@joeinwynnewood @zuzuruz @StillIRise1963
And to be clear, this isn’t just opinion, but experience.
I helped get the Green Party on the ballot in CA. And… <crickets> — they decided to try for top level positions and are irrelevant. (There are other problems in how the party’s structured, but that’s another subject.)
And I helped (less, but…) the Reform Party get up and running — before it was boarded and borged.
New parties need to be grassroots, bottom up.
Not in our time...
@McPatrick @zuzuruz @StillIRise1963
I think the Working Families Party is doing it right. Nothing but local/regional, partnering with like-minded progressive Democrats, never undercutting allies, even tepid allies, in a general election.
That's the only way to do it. The others are for all intents and purposes vanity projects to be scorned.