From: Michael S. Lorrey (retroman@turbont.net)
Date: Tue May 23 2000 - 16:14:00 MDT
Brian Manning Delaney wrote:
>
> Lee Daniel Crocker wrote:
>
> >>> The choice is not difficult at all if you don't
> >>> fall for the idiotic and dangerous idea that you
> >>> have to vote for someone with a chance of winning.
>
> >> The choice is indeed very difficult, if you
> >> don't fall for the idiotic and dangerous idea
> >> that voting for someone with no chance of
> >> winning achieves anything positive.
>
> > Hmm. A vote is an expression of preference. If
> > I choose to express my preference for a minority
> > candidate, that preference is duly recorded and
> > reported, and the total of these votes may well
> > influence the particular positions of major
> > candidates in the future. I would consider this
> > a "positive" result, while I would consider no
> > one ever hearing my real opinions because I
> > chose to lie about them to be one of the unheard
> > masses who voted for a popular candidate to be a
> > "negative" result. Do you have a different
> > evaluation of those outcomes?
>
> Indeed, not only do I have a different evaluation of the
> outcomes of the two options you mention, but I believe these are
> not the only two that should be considered.
>
> There's so far very little evidence that the small number of
> people who have voted for a third party candidate in a U.S.
> presidential election have altered the actual policies of any of
> the major candidates, at least in recent times. It's altered
> rhetoric to some degree, sure, but very little else.
>
Actually, I think the Libertarian party has been quite successful in
acting as a 'third way' source of ideas to counter the seeming polarity
of the fundamentalists versus the big gummint liberals. A large number
of the ideas in the Republican Revolution started as Libertarian Party
ideas, then you also have pot legalization as well. Seeing the LP
candidate say on national TV during the campaign give a logical argument
why the drug war was dumb and pot should be legalized was I think the
first time that idea made prime time since the 70's. School vouchers
started as an LP idea as well. Ron Paul is the only LP candidate to make
it to national office, and that was riding on the Republican ticket, but
he still made it. Note that the conservative agenda has little to do
with religion these days. Most republicans have gotten pretty tired of
the abortion issue costing them the election, even when the Supreme
Court has basically sent the issue to the states anyways.
Mike Lorrey
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