I really really want to see some third party seriously take on Biden in states without Trump on the ballot. It would be hilarious if they manage to win a state and fuck up the electoral college, leaving no winner.
MFW the closest thing there is to a relevant third party are the fucking libertarians, who are just republicans who haven’t read The Turner Diaries yet.
Libertarians are at least closer to us than the other parties. I was raised by a conspiracy libertarian, and while I don’t even talk to my Dad anymore, I can firmly say that the values he distilled in me as a child are what made me a communist. He was more critical over American intervention than anybody else I’ve ever met, he was the first person I saw critically support the national self determination of the Taliban. He was even better on China than most people in the States, constantly asking if I actually believed the bullshit on the TV. He was overall anti-China, but knew way more about the nation than I’ve heard from any other westerner, including calling the Black Book bullshit while criticizing China. If I talked him into it, he’d even be able to admit that Mao was a net good for China as a nation.
I’m probably wrong large scale, but I feel like I’ve seen a certain earnest conviction amongst American libertarians. As if they have decent values at heart, but have given into capitalist brainworms. I’ve shown many libertarians Marx, because Marx is just spitting straight facts in the first two volumes of Kapital, there’s barely even an emotional argument there it’s just pure facts. Usually have to synthesize what he’s saying, but they usually agree with Marx’s criticisms after having it translated.
In America, Libertarians are the most valuable people to convert. They’re already leaving America’s party system, and consider both parties to be controlled opposition. All you have to do is shift their window with Marx (or Lenin, depends on the person) and they will shift.
Libertarians in my (somewhat significant) experience are an even mix of:
Republicans who are embarassed by reactionary social positions, but who reliably support Republicans because they don’t really care about social issues that don’t immediately affect them.
People who would be libs if they grew up in a blue state, but they grew up in a red state so they would be embarrassed to be Democrats (and by virtue of being on the outside share many leftist critiques of Democrats).
Hardcore reactionaries who only want to put a better gloss on “tear down the state so I can hurt and exploit whoever I want.”
Cranks.
Group 2 can be brought around with a little effort, and maybe a sliver of Group 1 with a lot more effort, but there’s a lot of people who are basically lost causes.
John Quincy Adams won that election, despite Jackson getting more EC votes and a higher popular vote. Jackson then won the next election normally.
But that election didn’t even have a second party candidate. All four candidates were from the same party. So a third party candidate causing a contingent election would still be a big deal. And it would just be funny.
I also imagine a possible scenario where the third party candidate tells their EC voters to vote for Biden or Trump as faithless electors, with some sort of concessions, potentially even the Vice Presidency.
I think it would be wild to see something other than blue and red on the election maps. A random spot of yellow would have me howling with laughter. But also, given how some software works, I imagine a temp trying to plug in another color and bricking the whole system.
I really really want to see some third party seriously take on Biden in states without Trump on the ballot. It would be hilarious if they manage to win a state and fuck up the electoral college, leaving no winner.
MFW the closest thing there is to a relevant third party are the fucking libertarians, who are just republicans who haven’t read The Turner Diaries yet.
Libertarians are at least closer to us than the other parties. I was raised by a conspiracy libertarian, and while I don’t even talk to my Dad anymore, I can firmly say that the values he distilled in me as a child are what made me a communist. He was more critical over American intervention than anybody else I’ve ever met, he was the first person I saw critically support the national self determination of the Taliban. He was even better on China than most people in the States, constantly asking if I actually believed the bullshit on the TV. He was overall anti-China, but knew way more about the nation than I’ve heard from any other westerner, including calling the Black Book bullshit while criticizing China. If I talked him into it, he’d even be able to admit that Mao was a net good for China as a nation.
I’m probably wrong large scale, but I feel like I’ve seen a certain earnest conviction amongst American libertarians. As if they have decent values at heart, but have given into capitalist brainworms. I’ve shown many libertarians Marx, because Marx is just spitting straight facts in the first two volumes of Kapital, there’s barely even an emotional argument there it’s just pure facts. Usually have to synthesize what he’s saying, but they usually agree with Marx’s criticisms after having it translated.
In America, Libertarians are the most valuable people to convert. They’re already leaving America’s party system, and consider both parties to be controlled opposition. All you have to do is shift their window with Marx (or Lenin, depends on the person) and they will shift.
Libertarians in my (somewhat significant) experience are an even mix of:
Group 2 can be brought around with a little effort, and maybe a sliver of Group 1 with a lot more effort, but there’s a lot of people who are basically lost causes.
no electoral winner means congress decides who the president is. It’s happened before. It’s how Andrew Jackson got elected.
John Quincy Adams won that election, despite Jackson getting more EC votes and a higher popular vote. Jackson then won the next election normally.
But that election didn’t even have a second party candidate. All four candidates were from the same party. So a third party candidate causing a contingent election would still be a big deal. And it would just be funny.
I also imagine a possible scenario where the third party candidate tells their EC voters to vote for Biden or Trump as faithless electors, with some sort of concessions, potentially even the Vice Presidency.
You’re right, I misremembered the winner of that one
I think it would be wild to see something other than blue and red on the election maps. A random spot of yellow would have me howling with laughter. But also, given how some software works, I imagine a temp trying to plug in another color and bricking the whole system.