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brush

(53,469 posts)
Tue Oct 30, 2012, 04:12 PM Oct 2012

A rant on voting for 3rd party candidates

Last edited Tue Oct 30, 2012, 05:40 PM - Edit history (2)

I am amazed at progressives who post that they are voting for a third party candidate because they can’t in good conscience vote for President Obama because of the drone strikes in Pakistan/Afghanistan, and Guantanamo and other issues. Consider this, as much as we like to think the President has the power to accomplish all that he wants by edit (not to mention all the GOP obstructionism) just remember we don’t exactly live in the United States of Altruistic Utopia. Let’s get real and understand who we are and how we are viewed in the world. We live in the United States of America, perhaps the most rapacious and imperialistic country to have arisen in history. Since 1893 when we first flexed our imperialistic muscles with a Navy gunboat and overthrew the monarchy in Hawaii at the behest of ex-pat American sugar growers who wanted free reign to operate their plantations, and on through our Cuban double cross at the end of the Spanish American War, add the Philipines, Nicaragua, Haiti, Guatemala, Panama, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Chile, Iran (helping the British to overthrow a democratically elected leader, intent on nationalizing it’s oil industry, in order to install the compliant Shah), Viet Nam, Grenada, and finally Iraq, we have extended the outrageous conceit of “Manifest Destiny” to a global scale to invade at will, occupy or foment coups in foreign lands in order to gain control of their natural resources for huge profits for our corporations like Dole, United Fruit, Standard Oil, Anaconda Mining, etc. These foreign interventions have been cloaked in the mantle of national security and furtherance of Democracy of course to sell them to ordinary Americans needed for the military. And many of us have bought it for over a century, some of us, not so much.

But to think that one man can change our foreign policy direction, which has operated, quite frankly, basically the same under either party for decades, in three and a half years is unrealistic and naïve. I of course am not privy to foreign policy goings-on but I would think that sometime soon after a new, first-term president is inaugurated a briefing takes place where corporate and military leaders make it clear to the newby that U.S. interests (that reads “corporate” interests) will remain the direction that our foreign policy takes and any attempts to change it could be dangerous (i.e. JFK). He/she would most likely be told that he/she has some latitude in domestic policy like civil rights, healthcare, social issues, etc. but to steer clear of wholesale foreign policy changes (war is very profitable for corporations after all). Now to my point about third party candidates, this election is too important to risk another 2000/Nader fiasco that helped put W Bush in office and bring our country to its knees.

We know the repugs are intent on voter suppression in order to steal the election so every vote for a third party candidate can take a vote away from President Obama. He is the first president that has invested in and will continue to champion green issues and perhaps move us away from having to pursue our invasive foreign policy direction towards, and let’s be clear, non-white countries, as we will develop our own domestic alternative energy sources. Other presidents to come could follow his lead, especially if repugs lose this one which will render them a regional party no longer able to elect a national ticket (that is unless they undergo wholesale changes to attract minorities, which is highly unlikely) . DUers please post your views on this.

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A rant on voting for 3rd party candidates (Original Post) brush Oct 2012 OP
I have not seen it here at du, and the only Demographic I know who might do that would be a green still_one Oct 2012 #1
I've done it quite often when marsis Oct 2012 #2
Too bad about the formatting on your post... RevStPatrick Oct 2012 #3
 

marsis

(301 posts)
2. I've done it quite often when
Tue Oct 30, 2012, 04:20 PM
Oct 2012

I don't like either corporate approved candidate but this election is too black and white (please excuse the pun) so I happily casted my vote for BHO today. It has been a way of saying "I'm here, I vote, and I'm waiting for a real choice".

 

RevStPatrick

(2,208 posts)
3. Too bad about the formatting on your post...
Tue Oct 30, 2012, 04:36 PM
Oct 2012

I only read the first sentence or two, and then I had to stop.
Try paragraph beaks, OK?

I'm voting 3rd party this year.
I'll be voting for the presidential candidate on the Working Families Party here in New York State.
That candidate's name is Barack Obama.

I don't know about other states, but here in New York, a candidate can be on more than one party ticket.
This way I get to support a viable third party AND vote for the lesser of two evils.

WIN!

(and for the record, I believe that Barack Obama is a wonderful, even exemplary human being. I would truly like to have a beer with the man. however... drones, gitmo, mmj, and a number of other things turn me off to supporting him on the Democratic ticket. There are local democrats I will be voting for who will not be on the WFP ticket.)

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