Ugh, so, AOC decided to go after the greens and claim they're "not a serious" party. And this is cringe to me. If she wasn't someone who claimed to run with a third party in the past, and she wasn't among the most progressive elected democrats, I wouldn't even take her seriously. I mean, centrist dems love to do this whole "adults in the room" thing of "hahaha we're the serious people who can win, the greens can't even win hahahaha" after rigging the system in their favor. But AOC, if anything, deserves a little credit based on her history here.
As I see it, there's no national party that really has a chance. And many of them aim for the presidential race in order to raise visibility and break through. The fact is, it's so much effort just to get on the ballot in most places and there's so little attention and interest given to down ballot races that it's often not worth focusing on that. I hate this "hahaha stupid third parties, dont even focus on down ballot races", it's just this insulting condescending thing dems do to denigrate third parties further. Like run along, why dont you run down ballot instead of interruption muh presidential run. As if they stand a chance there. And in pennsylvania, there ARE greens running down ballot. Half the time you have to google just to find out who they are so you can write their name in. it's pathetic.
Like, the whole system is rigged against third parties. And I'm tired of pretending it isn't. And I know I ain't voting third party this time, but I have in previous cycles, and probably will again at some point. I just ain't doing it THIS time because of trump, and because dems did JUST enough to earn my vote.
That...and the greens arent serious for reasons other than what they're being targetted for. Stein's policy expertise is iffy. Her economic platform often is a progressive wish list that probably can't be implemented, it promises everything under the sun, while only being able to realistically deliver on a fraction of that. Which is why i dont trust the greens when they claim to be for UBI. I know they have no real intention to implement a UBI if elected. They'd be too focused on their green new deal crap. And don't get my started about their foreign policy. Reduce defense spending 90% and pull out of NATO? Please, you would destroy our foreign policy if you did that and cede so much ground to our enemies it's ridiculous. With 1/10 of our current spending, we'd be spending significantly less than China, and only a little more than Russia. Even if you wanted to cut spending, I don't think cutting more than 20-30% is realistic, if that even is.
So..that's why greens score so low for me. Stein's command of policy and experience for the job is lacking, and for all the good she does on economics in some ways, she bombs everywhere else.
But one thing I will give her credit for. At least she tries, at least she shows up. If I were to vote to an alternative to harris...somehow....Stein is still the best option. That is more a condemnation of the other options than props to stein, but once again, that's the issue with the entire structural problem third parties deal with. It requires MASSIVE amount of effort JUST TO GET ON THE BALLOT and Stein is among the only ones who actually manages to pull it off. That counts for SOMETHING.
I just hate this "hahaha third parties arent serious bro" thing. It's just so condescending. And about the working families party, WFP is a lot like forward where people run as a third party and a dem AT THE SAME TIME. So they're trying to work within the dems. Which, again, i respect, I'm an "all of the above" kind of guy at creating change, and im all for any method, within or outside of the democratic party, to advance my goals. But when working within fails, then one must work outside of it.
And, btw AOC, a lot of people on the left arent happy with your work INSIDE the party. They see you as a sell out, who stopped fighting for issues, because you'd rather kow tow to power. And normally, I'm pretty lenient toward you. I understand you're doing the best you can within a broken system. And I know you dont have a magic wand. Just...don't crap on those who arent happy with the job you're doing and pursue an alternative path to influence things. Bashing third parties just makes you look like an establishment toadie. Just stop. I respect you. I respect the work you do. But please, stop crapping on others and the work they do. You both have your ways, your ways have strengths and weaknesses. You'd rather work inside the system even if it costs you your ideological purity, and I respect that, even if other lefties don't. Stein would rather keep her purity, and work outside of the system. Both are respectable and honorable ways to go about things. I just don't like you throwing down with the people going about it the other way when the criticisms against your way are equally as valid, technically. But also equally invalid. The point is, you don't have a right to talk crap about stein IMO. Especially given the criticisms outsider lefties would level at you.
And that's what pisses me off about this. Work inside the party, work outside of the party. Again, I'm an all of the above kind of guy. Id ideally work within, but not everyone can be in a safe D+28 district. Several of your likeminded coworkers got thrown out this year over the Gaza thing. And while your path works for you, for others, sometimes you gotta work outside of the system just to establish a name for yourself. And many others would rather not compromise their integrity by running inside of the party and making the sacrifices needed to stay safe from primary challenges and the like. So...stop talk crap about people who pursue a different path. We all have a role to play in this movement of ours.
Even a fricking internet edge lord like me contributes in his own way. Even if it is just cheerleading.
And btw, since I got in this debate again, you vote your values either way, you virtue signal either way. People who work within the system just virtue signal about trolley problems and how they care about real world consequences while crapping on others who have more abstract value systems and care more about moral purity that way. Everyone should stay true to their values, no matter what they are. Hell, only reasons im going harris this time are 1) trump is dangerous, 2) harris actually is the best candidate because stein is "unserious" in other ways i mentioned above. But still, I dont like talking trash about stein for...daring to run as a third party in the first place. I keep my criticisms purely to policy and ideas.
And..btw...it's not a trolley problem is the democratic party sets up the trolley problem in the first place. It's a game of electoral chicken in the form of a prisoner's dilemma. And let me just say, cooperating when the other party regularly votes to betray you is just a sure fire way of losing and submitting to a hostile organization every time. The dems are a sociopathic machiavellian organization that cares about nothing but power. They are the ones who will let people die if they arent reelected. THey just shift the moral blame to voters in order to guilt people into voting for them. It's a power move, and under normal circumstances, people shouldnt tolerate that. I only believe in doing so this time because trump literally is that dangerous that he threatens to blow up the entire system and bring us to a point of no return. Even I aint crazy enough to vote third party under THOSE circumstances. But short of that? Yeah, vote for values, dont allow yourself to be bullied or intimidated, and don't fall for voter shaming bullcrap.
At the end of the day, democracy belongs to the voters, for better or worse. If you vote for an option that you dont believe in over an option that you would rather have, you do nothing but betray your own values. Vote your values, no matter what they are. You owe no one a vote, these jokers running for office are servants of the people, and you are THEIR bosses, not the other way around. Don't allow anyone to tell you differently.
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