Today's one-liner: "The shortest way to the distinguishing excellence of any writer is through his hostile critics." Richard LeGallienne
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Tuesday, March 17, 2015
The Rise of the Independent
According to the Inky, the ranks of Independent voters are growing as the two major parties dwindle. Pundits on both sides of the political spectrum attribute this to dissatisfaction with the major parties, and that's certainly true enough. But I think another reason is voting machines. Not only is it easier to cast a write-in ballot, but it's also easier to physically see the independent candidate on the ballot. In the last election cycle, blogger Michael Molovinsky was able to draw 9% of the votes, although he attributes his success to his good looks.
9 comments:
You own views are appreciated, especially if they differ from mine. But remember, commenting is a privilege, not a right. I will delete personal attacks or off-topic remarks at my discretion. Comments that play into the tribalism that has consumed this nation will be declined. So will comments alleging voter fraud unless backed up by concrete evidence. If you attack someone personally, I expect you to identify yourself. I will delete criticisms of my comment policy, vulgarities, cut-and-paste jobs from other sources and any suggestion of violence towards anyone. I will also delete sweeping generalizations about mainstream parties or ideologies, i.e. identity politics. My decisions on these matters are made on a case by case basis, and may be affected by my mood that day, my access to the blog at the time the comment was made or other information that isn’t readily apparent.
Neither party represents the citizens and working classs of this once great country. Until then, they can all lump it!
ReplyDeleteThe more each party panders to their non-moderate, zero sum, win at all cost members, the more they lose the middle ground.
ReplyDeleteThat middle is people who realize that government is needed, that there are services and functions that the private sector can't or won't perform, yet at the same time want to see it done efficiently.
Yet, 99% of elected officials belong to one of the two major parties. One may call oneself anything one wants. But on election day, they're either R or D.
ReplyDelete@5:08 has a point, there hasn't been an independent or third party candidate elected to the pa. state house since the 1930's. people are warm to the concept of an independent, yet think that they're wasting their vote. of course the only real waste is voting for someone different than their real choice.
ReplyDelete1 Netanyahu
ReplyDelete0 Team Obama / Blog Mentor
MM is probably out boozing it up with BiBi.
ReplyDeleteYou can't vote in the primaries where things like choosing those who tax your home come up (i.e. 2015) as an I, and neither party will change that.
ReplyDeleteRalph Nader was ahead of his time. As always.
ReplyDeleteWhen was Ralph Nader president?
ReplyDelete