Chris : There have been a few Independents who have won elections, not only Jesse Ventura but Joe Lieberman and Bernie Sanders. There have been some others in various places. But since there is no such thing as a consensus among Indies it is hard to say exactly what this implies. Also, if a movement does get started, sufficiently such that it threatens to actually win some states, it is a sure bet that one or the other big party would co-opt as much of its platform as possible. A 3rd party just might have been a feasible in 1992 if Perot had not been such a space cadet. Alas, he was a space cadet, and that great Independent hope went nowhere. So, it isn't out of the question, but we are a long way from seeing it happen as of October 2011. Billy ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 10/16/2011 3:26:38 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes:
This map seems to add credence to the dream of a centrist third party. There is a logical natural constituency. The problem is that our political system in the US does not support the natural emergence of a third party. I believe that we would benefit greatly if Ernie’s “maximum majority voting” system could be implemented. But breaking through the barriers to get a new voting system like this in place is as unlikely as, say, a third party system that could elect a U.S. president. Of course, Minnesota did elect Jesse Ventura, so never say never to a non-republican/non-democrat breakthrough. Chris ------------------------------------------ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Sunday, October 16, 2011 1:26 PM To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Subject: [RC] Geography of Radical Centrism Ernie : The map shows where independent voters are concentrated. This hardly makes them all Radical Centrists, of course. But if we were launching an ad campaign and needed to carefully budget resources, the purple areas would be the most logical places to spend $$$. Solid red or solid blue and probably very little bang for the buck. Interesting that a large swath of Texas is in the "potential RC" category along with much of the Rocky Mountains ( including Montana ) and most of Louisiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Missouri. Also looks like Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. I'm kind of surprised by Oklahoma, but this is what the map says. Looks like most of the Cherokee, Choctaw, etc, are Democrats. Of course this is the 2008 election. A current map might show some very different distribution patterns. Geographically, in terms of area, a lot of Florida is independent, but look closely and metro Miami is deep blue. California, away from the Coast, is also independent. However, "independent" may simply mean --depends on the area-- a fairly even split between Dems and Reps. Regardless, split areas is where you'd expect a lot of Indies. Billy -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
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