Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Nader redux -- why that dude has zero chance

Nader won't win, regardless of his articulate stand on issues and not because he isn't better qualified. It really CAN'T be done. Every 3rd party effort in history has quickly withered away, and not by accident (although not by some conspiracy either) ...

PoliSci 101: as my son explained it, we have a two-party system not because it was INTENDED that way but because it IS that way, inherently. This style of political system will NEVER be other than that, as every single third party effort in our history attests. The most success a 3rd party can claim is a spoiler role in an attempt to blackmail one side or the other into paying more attention to their agenda.

That said, I support experiments with voting reform that would give third parties a bigger voice (but I would NOT pick presidential contests as the place to start such experiments). Cumulative and preference voting schemes look particularly interesting.

... update: I should have mentioned IRV --Instant Runoff Voting. This one is so simple I don't understand why 3rd party wannabes haven't conspired to at least get it put as an initiative on the CA ballot (Lord knows, we plenty more wacko initiatives than this).

http://www.fairvote.org/irv/whatis2.htm


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