this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2024
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Might be nice if most of those third parties ran for lower offices once in a while too rather just go for the highest rung on the ladder.
You don't see too many Greens running for state legislature... or even city council. Sure, one or two here or there, but no collective effort. The Libertarians barely have their shit together and yet they still constantly field candidates up and down the ballot.
The Green Party does run candidates in more left-leaning areas... Not that they do a whole lot better in those races, but they do try more than just POTUS
Those candidates would probably do better as independent, for all the party support they don’t get because people like jill stein blow it all on a useless presidential bid.
And let’s say, hypothetically, a miracle does happen and she wins the election. She has zero support from congress, a congress that more or less hates her. There’s not a lot she’s going to be able to do, considering.
You're right that Stein would have very little support in Congress if she won, but that's not in the realm of possibility, but to say that lower office runs would do better as independents misses some of the peculiarities of the American electoral system:
So you're right that independent runs wouldn't have the baggage that comes with third party association, but you're missing that there are very real benefits to that association.
Of course, if we had public campaign financing and rank choice voting, working class voters could unite and not be divided against one another... Almost like it's that way by design 🤷♂️
What... benefits....?
how much funding has down-ballot candidates ever gotten from the green party? Go ahead. Publish the numbers.
how much campaigning does Jill or other national green leaders do for the state office candidates? (none?)
Green party candidates are basically independents who align with a certain je ne sais quoi. they build their own campaign, source their own funds, and generally have extremely limited party support. If there's party help at all, it's strictly at the local level, with multiple people helping each other out.
The national Green Party does extremely little to help down ballot.
I don't know about the other parties, but to my knowledge the only third party that has "significant" support down ballot are the libertarians, and even that is... dubious. yes. Elections are way more expensive than they should be.
But again, you're missing my point: Bernie Sanders, as an independent, has done entire orders of magnitude more good runing for senator than Jill Stein has ever accomplished. He should be the model for how to get 3rd party influence at the federal level, not someone who has yet to win any election anywhere.
Ending all current us participation in conflicts while refocusing the EPA to actually do their jobs and investigate the massive open violations of current environmental law would be enough to improve things, and takes no permission from Congress as it's already exclusively the purview of the executive.
She could also focus the IRS solely on wealthier tax dodgers and utilize the Sec to go after members of Congress and their families.
The president has gotten more and more power over the decades, we don't need to pretend the office is powerless.
Here and there, as I said. No coordinated effort.
Good news green has more local offices than any other third party.
Cool. Where are their candidates?
Takes two seconds to find this information little buddy. Do better. https://www.gpelections.org/greens-in-office/
See above, re: here and there.
Do you know how many elected position there are in this country?
A lot more than there are people willing to run for those positions, which is part of the problem. The other part is that it's never good enough for you people. "The greens should start small run for local office." They run more candidates for local office than all other third parties combined. Maybe, just maybe, the corporate lies you people repeat without thought nor pause are lies you can learn to live without.
What does not being able to find the people willing to join your party and run for office tell you about your party?
You read the exact opposite of the meaning there. There are more positions in government than people willing to run for them period. There are more funded candidates that get a salary from their political party to hold an office, but the vast majority of elected government positions are held by people without a party, because quite frankly political parties are stupid, worthless, and inherently anti democratic.
I'm sorry you hate local government, and I'm sorry you're ignorant about how politics work outside the pointless sideshow that happens every four years, but that does not mean the greens don't have a proven track record of getting into office.
And now you're telling lies about me. I have no idea why, but I have no interest in talking to liars. Goodbye.
They have one example in Michigan (where I live), and he ran unopposed for trustee in Fenton Township.
Michigan has 1,240 Townships, 257 villages and 276 cities, and the greens have managed to get one position in one Township by running someone unopposed. Even the Libertarians have done better, as Wikipedia points out four current libertarian office holders in Michigan.
Or in reality, greens have more people in office than libertarians, but more importantly that candidate was not run, he ran as a registered member. You can do the same right now. I guarantee there are ten dozen empty local government positions with 100 miles of you right now.
In Michigan? Do they?
Anyway I'm already participating in my local government in non-partisan positions.