2016 Elections

[Mudhammam]

Entry cost of national electoral competitiveness is very steep and much more expensive than any third party can afford.  So third party will assuredly lose.

Furthermore,  any third party will likely take most of its votes from one of the other two parties that is closer to the third party in position.    By playing, the third party weakens not its worst ideological opponent, but it's closet ideological kindred, such as they are amongst the two main parties.   So in playing at all the third party will have but handed election advantage, and probably victory, to that major party from the two that is ideologically furthest from the third party.

So vote for the third party promising to bring the country closest to the path you wish it to traverse, and you have have contributed materially to ensuring the country will steer a course further from the path you would wish it to traverse.

The Republican Party could not possible do more to assure its own continued electoral advantage than to subsidize a progressive third party that would draw votes away from the democrats.

Good. If the Democrats lose because a progressive third party funnels votes away from Hillary, maybe they'll take more progressive positions next time. We saw how libertarian movements organized at disgust over the corporatist, neo-con wing of the Republican party, and though they lost two Presidential elections, now they have a field of candidates that vary from more to less in their liberation beliefs (actually it seems like Republican politicians representing big business hijacked the movement early on so you don't hear so much about higher taxes and tighter regulations on corporations as much as you do about income inequality, which is somehow a separate issue to them). I'm willing to put up with a Republican win, as I see the Democrats as only marginally better, if it sends a message to the "liberal" establishment to get serious about their supposed principles.