> The problem is, I'm more frightened of the radical wing > of the R's than the radical wing of the D's. So when I > go to the polling station, all other things equal and > knowing how much party line plays into things, I'll check > the D box.
Yes, and that just about sums up what is wrong with the way Americans participate in their democracy. Most people do not vote for what they want. They vote to prevent what they are afraid of. I spent a couple of years working closely with the local affiliate of the Libertarian Party doing outreach and working public events and such. Some people I talked to agreed more with the LP than the democrats or republicans on policy issues, but told me they couldn't vote for an LP candidate essentially for one reason: fear. They were afraid the democrats would win, or they were afraid the republicans would win, so they had to vote the other way to make sure those evil people they hated so much wouldn't have power. They said that they didn't believe an LP candidate could win and they would be "wasting" or "throwing away" their vote and helping the evil side to win if they didn't vote "against" the hated party. I see this as a flawed way to cast a vote. Vote for what you WANT, not against what you hate. If enough people would just do that one simple thing, additional political parties would actually be viable. At the time, the LP was the third largest political party in the country (it's been a while and I haven't checked recently to see if that is still the case) and we still couldn't scratch the surface. It's unfortunate that as a nation we've become locked into this two-party hate-fest where we are simply voting against the "other" guy and not FOR what we really want. Unfortunately I do not know how to convince people that this is the wrong way to participate in a democracy. I know I've tried, and I gave up after hearing the same fear-based response from thousands of people that I talked to. I'll end by saying that the LP isn't perfect either, I have no illusions about that. Many people I spoke with agree with more of their ideas than the current major parties but are afraid to do anything about it out of fear and loathing for whatever party they fear the most. Personally, I think instant runoff voting would alleviate these fears and give other parties a chance, but it would take the current powers to make that change. Since they know it would hurt them in the long run they fight that voting method hard every time someone brings it up. At least they agree on something in that respect. -Justin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:312188 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
