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Ted Cruz

7 (6.5%)

Rick Santorum

16 (14.8%)

Michelle Bachmann

13 (12%)

Chris Christie

23 (21.3%)

Rand Paul

49 (45.4%)

Total Members Voted: 107

[RedKing]

Isn't it sorta like half a vote?

Depends on whether the vote was needed or not. Staying home in a predestined election (safe red or blue state) is just a meaningless protest. Staying home in a tossup election could do real damage, but also loses its impact as a protest because it gets obfuscated by other factors. If Candidate A wins by 0.5%, you could claim low turnout by their base cost Candidate B the election, but could just as  easily claim strong turnout by A's followers was decisive. Or the weather. Or their respective hairstyles.

[Owlbread]

One solution to America's diabolical two-party issue may be to promote local-level parties to the Nth degree, ensuring that state senators come from local parties, congressmen and the like. Eventually the grip that the Democrats and Republicans would have had would be much weaker because of all these local fellows.

[RedKing]

Might as well ask us to send a man to the moon while you're at it. Hell, a moonshot would be easier.


EDIT: Not to mention, we'd be ill-served by replacing national parties with coalitions of regional parties. In fact, the only "regional" or "local-level" parties I can think of in the US are usually either very narrow single-issue parties, crackpots, secessionists, or all of the above.

[FearfulJesuit]

Might as well ask us to send a man to the moon while you're at it. Hell, a moonshot would be easier.


EDIT: Not to mention, we'd be ill-served by replacing national parties with coalitions of regional parties. In fact, the only "regional" or "local-level" parties I can think of in the US are usually either very narrow single-issue parties, crackpots, secessionists, or all of the above.

Chicken and egg issue, isn't it? Only crackpots run regional parties, because only crackpots are fool enough to try.

[Darvi]

Now there's an idea I can get behind. Every four years, NASA shoots a flag or somesuch to the moon, and whichever candidate retrieves it first, wins the presidency. A literal space race, if you will.

[10ebbor10]

Truly, the easiest way to get rid of the 2-party system is to remove first past the post voting in all elections.  I mean, It's easier to have small parties when those parties actually matter, and it's not just the largest party that gets all the seats.

[Owlbread]

Might as well ask us to send a man to the moon while you're at it. Hell, a moonshot would be easier.


EDIT: Not to mention, we'd be ill-served by replacing national parties with coalitions of regional parties. In fact, the only "regional" or "local-level" parties I can think of in the US are usually either very narrow single-issue parties, crackpots, secessionists, or all of the above.

Aren't there semi-sensible parties in Vermont at the moment making gains that aren't necessarily demanding a re-establishment of the noble Vermont republic?

[FearfulJesuit]

Might as well ask us to send a man to the moon while you're at it. Hell, a moonshot would be easier.


EDIT: Not to mention, we'd be ill-served by replacing national parties with coalitions of regional parties. In fact, the only "regional" or "local-level" parties I can think of in the US are usually either very narrow single-issue parties, crackpots, secessionists, or all of the above.

Aren't there semi-sensible parties in Vermont at the moment making gains that aren't necessarily demanding a re-establishment of the noble Vermont republic?

Northern New England (that's Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine) is under special circumstances: these are small states with very elastic (not particularly consistent one way or the other) voters who like voting for oddballs. (Case in point: Maine has a Tea Party governor, but in 2012 it was one of five states where white males voted for Obama.) Both Independent Senators are from the region (oddly, the House seems to have no independent Reps).

As for the parties: the Vermont Progressive Party (social-democrat) has three state Senators (of thirty) and five Representatives (of 150). Neither Maine nor New Hampshire have state parties with any seats in their legislatures (though Maine does have a few independents). Something you didn't know while I was researching this: New Hampshire (population 1.3 million) has a 400-member House, making its citizens possibly the most ridiculously overrepresented in the world (New Hampshire's is the fourth-biggest legislative body in the entire Anglosphere, behind only India's, the UK's, and the U.S. Congress). If Congress had the same level of representation, it would have almost a hundred thousand House seats.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I could stand having a hundred thousand Representatives.

[mainiac]

I took enough public opinion courses in grad school to sour me on the democratic process but good. Most people do not make rational voting decisions (even highly educated voters), and party affiliation is the single strongest predictor of voting outcomes. It's heartening to see an increase in independents, but all that does is make the outcome less clear, it doesn't mean that people are voting any *smarter*.

You are making a non-sequitor there.  You say people vote irrationally, then you say that they vote a party ticket.  But what is irrational about voting a party ticket?  If you would strongly prefer one party, it would be very irrational to not support them usually.  And given our current political makeup, most people strongly prefer one party.  Unless you can explain to me why I as a liberal should prefer Jim DeMint to Alvin Greene, your argument is fallacious.

Btw, how many people use this extension? https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/xkcd-substitutions/jkgogmboalmaijfgfhfepckdgjeopfhk

[SalmonGod]

Maybe it's just because of where I live, but I'm on Redking's side.  The only place I've seen public opinion of the republican party damaged is on the internet among better-than-average informed left-leaning groups of people or non-americans.  On more politically neutral grounds or in real-life, it's basically all the same crap.  I've seen some people give up on the republican party to declare themselves fully libertarian, but otherwise people typically believe whatever spin their side's media feeds them.  And actually the strongest and most frequent political statements I've heard in-person this past year are how horrible Obamacare is, placing full blame on Democrats for the way businesses are slashing pay and benefits in response to it, and bitter dark humor about the NSA delivered with full sincerity or Joker-like acceptance and abandon.

But again, I live in Indiana... where even those locally considered left-wing will talk about how social programs are wasteful and not worth the unintended consequences.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

At this point I'm just refusing to talk about Obamacare until it actually comes into effect. Nobody has any god damn authority to say the ACA is demonstrably bad yet, not unless they can see the future.

It's an improvement, if only a marginal one, and I will fucking laugh if five years from now it's in the same position as Social Security and the Republicans are trying to act like they were onboard all along.

[Baffler]

Btw, how many people use this extension? https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/xkcd-substitutions/jkgogmboalmaijfgfhfepckdgjeopfhk

I do now.

I live in Ohio, and I have noticed the same thing, just replace blaming the Democrats for the way businesses are slashing pay with blaming Obamacare directly and you've got my part of the state. Which honestly baffles me a little bit because this district has historically been in the Democrat's pocket.

[scriver]

Indeed. It's like the racist guy who was on the Daily Show just a little while ago. You have to wonder how he reached that point without ever seriously questioning the wisdom of his course of action.

Things like these requires proper citation, you know

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Indeed. It's like the racist guy who was on the Daily Show just a little while ago. You have to wonder how he reached that point without ever seriously questioning the wisdom of his course of action.

Things like these requires proper citation, you know

Things like that were posted in this thread already. Besides, you wouldn't be able to watch it anyway, as you live in the wasteland of Not-America.