A ray of hope

[Brett]

Switch to third party is popular
Nearly one third county switchers choose another affiliation.

By Andrew M. Seder aseder@timesleader.com
Times Leader Staff Writer

According to figures released by the Luzerne County Bureau of Elections, nearly as many people switched their voter registrations to a third party as they did to the Democratic Party.  more... http://www.timesleader.com/news/Switch_to_third_party_is_popular_04-19-2010.html

[FourBee]

Yes there is a ray of hope.  The political parties have no control over an individual's vote.   Thus, the rule of popular majority could change overnight for the better of our country.

[MGMorden]

What we need to really make third parties viable is Instant Runoff Elections (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting) for all national elections.

Brief summary on that is that rather than just voting for one candidate, you rank your candidates in order of preference.  Nobody wins unless they have a 50%+ majority of #1 positions.  If that majority isn't held after a round of voting, you eliminate the person with the least #1's, from the list, and all positions shift up once to fill the void left by the eliminated candidate.  

Long story short, it gives people the ability to vote for who the really want, but with their preferred "lesser of two evils" as a backup.  Such a system would give people a way to slowly build up support for third parties over time without feeling like they've "wasted their vote" (not something I've ever been concerned with anyways - I vote for who I think should hold the position regardless, but anything to ease people into doing what they feel is right is a good thing).  It's already used in several countries.

So for example, if we had:

Democratic Candidate % of 1st choice: 45%
Republican Candidate % of 1st choice: 43%
Libertarian Candidate % of 1st choice: 12%

Then the though the Democratic candidate holds the most #1's, he doesn't win yet.  The Libertarian gets eliminated and whoever his supporters put down as #2 goes up to #1 for them.  So if 2/3 of them had the Republican as #2 and 1/3 had the Democrat, then the results would re-balance to:

Democratic Candidate: 49%
Republican Candidate: 51%

The Republican gets a majority after the "instant runoff" and wins. 

Naturally this system doesn't make the Republican or the Democrat win all the time - but in the end I think it's more fair and gives other parties more chance to grow.

Downside is that any change in the system would have to be proposed and voted on by the very people (Republicans and Democrats) who would stand to lose from this system, so I don't see it happening anytime soon.

[magooch]

I'm sure the Dumocrats love it when voters switch from potential Republican voters to independent.  If they are switching from Dumocrat to independent, they probably will still vote for a Dumocrat when it gets right down to the nitty gritty.  If these folks haven't figured out by now that the Dumocrats are really socialists and communists, they never will.

MG, try to remember who you are talking about when you suggest a more complicated voting system.  Too many of the American voters are barely able to understand what we have now.

[Dee]

Talk about not understanding something. Too many Republicans are as dumb as a post. They can't remember the trash their candidate supported, from one election to another, and support the moron anyway. They keep hoping for something that is never gonna happen, and their candidate has proved it time after time, yet still they put their hope in him.

[Hooker]

If these folks haven't figured out by now that the Dumocrats are really socialists and communists, they never will.

So true the Dems are indeed and in fact no beating around the bush socialists.
While on the other hand the Reps are sneaky back door socialist .
I guess it all depends on whether you would rather have a dog that bites your hand or one that bites your backside.
Some of us are just tired of getting bit, so instead of continuing to feed either of these unruly mongrels let's put them to sleep.
Someone once said that the definition of insanity is , "Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result" .
Let's stop the insanity if not for yourself as the libs say  "Do it for the children"

Pat

[Dee]

If these folks haven't figured out by now that the Dumocrats are really socialists and communists, they never will.

So true the Dems are indeed and in fact no beating around the bush socialists.
While on the other hand the Reps are sneaky back door socialist .
I guess it all depends on whether you would rather have a dog that bites your hand or one that bites your backside.
Some of us are just tired of getting bit, so instead of continuing to feed either of these unruly mongrels let's put them to sleep.
Someone once said that the definition of insanity is , "Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result" .
Let's stop the insanity if not for yourself as the libs say  "Do it for the children"

Pat

EXCELLENT ANALOGY!

[gypsyman]

I think some of you are forgetting something. At this point and time, even some of the Democrats are going to vote 3rd party. I belive alot have realized what a cartoon that they voted for. Both party's are in a state of disaray. Things are so messed up, I don't see any party standing out. gypsyman

[nw_hunter]

Switch to third party is popular
Nearly one third county switchers choose another affiliation.

By Andrew M. Seder aseder@timesleader.com
Times Leader Staff Writer

According to figures released by the Luzerne County Bureau of Elections, nearly as many people switched their voter registrations to a third party as they did to the Democratic Party.  more... http://www.timesleader.com/news/Switch_to_third_party_is_popular_04-19-2010.html

What a wonderful world this would be if, half the Democrats and Republicans switched to a third party.

[Hooker]

I think some of you are forgetting something. At this point and time, even some of the Democrats are going to vote 3rd party. I belive alot have realized what a cartoon that they voted for. Both party's are in a state of disaray. Things are so messed up, I don't see any party standing out. gypsyman

And now is the time to let all parties know that what they are serving up ain't good enough.
By now it's a safe bet that all sides are sick of this parasitic self serving government.

Pat

[Dee]

I think some of you are forgetting something. At this point and time, even some of the Democrats are going to vote 3rd party. I belive alot have realized what a cartoon that they voted for. Both party's are in a state of disaray. Things are so messed up, I don't see any party standing out. gypsyman

And now is the time to let all parties know that what they are serving up ain't good enough.
By now it's a safe bet that all sides are sick of this parasitic self serving government.

Pat

Hooker while I would like to think that what you say is true, I truly believe that most will vote for the lessor of two evils AGAIN, which will also ONCE AGAIN, entrench us further into the continued loss of our rights, and freedoms. Most are incapable of seeing beyond voting either Republican, or Democrat, and because the majority have been brainwashed to this ideology, they believe themselves right, and yet continue to blindly lose. They desperately hold on to the fantasy of the Republican Party suddenly realizing they were wrong, and miraculously changing. I know, and you seem to know that it ain't gonna happen, but the majority? They are afraid to step out of the box.

[wind drift]

Man when i saw a ray of hope i thought something good may had happend to obama.lol.

[Hooker]

Dee we just need to convince more folks so it looks like we got job security  

I know that the lesser of two evil crowd thinks they are playing the safe card , when all they doing is buying a few more seconds on the clock. That only works when your side has the ball.

Pat