RE: Obama Supporters Should Vote Jill Stein (rant)
August 24, 2012 at 10:22 am
(This post was last modified: August 24, 2012 at 10:38 am by Whateverist.)
(August 23, 2012 at 12:32 pm)goddamnit Wrote: Yes, and why do we have a two-party system? I can assure you it is not because of principled outliers like me. It is because of people who always vote for the two-party system and justify it with the "lesser of two evils" philosophy. As Noam Chomsky said, polls shows the population is left of both parties.
And let me just add that as we disagree, I respect you and I know we probably have similar political wishes. It is just the course of action we do not agree on.
I think you greatly over-estimate the power of the office of the president. In an era of extreme polarization it will be very hard for any leader to get congress to work on, let alone solve, any of our pressing problems. Would someone outside either party have greater support than one from within the dominant parties? I strongly doubt it. That assumes more genuine concern for the public good than I think most of our representatives truly possess. That is such a cynical thing for me to say but tragically it is probably true.
So the power of the office of the president is limited for constructive change without consensus and cooperation. But it can be used for great mischief militarily and, as the enforcement branch of government, it can also do great harm by failure to regulate. Guess what? Those are that is exactly what the republican party stands for .. American exceptionalism and laissez faire.
