(May 1, 2015 at 8:32 pm)Parkers Tan Wrote: I would rather endure a shitty Presidency or Congress for a few years knowing that the groundswell is building, than endure a shitty Presidency or Congress with no hope for change because everyone insists on voting for parties which have a track record of corrupt self-interest taking precedence over good governance.
Nothing can guarantee change in our system. But doing nothing guarantees the stranglehold of the status quo.
Why would a third party be above all the corruption you complain about above? The Green Party has 63 seats of 630 in the German Bundestag and Green Party members do all the horse trading and log rolling that members of the other parties do. There's maybe less of it in Germany because parliamentary systems go by bloc voting, where all legislators of the same party vote the same way on each issue. That means the governing coalition can ignore the Greens if it wants. But it may not do so and instead humor the Greens, realizing Green help may be needed if a coalition partner backs out.
The problem here is that politics is all about self-interest. Or, more accurately, the narrow interests of whatever pressure group you happen to belong to.
The liberals who squall the loudest about our "corrupt" system are actually quite satisfied with it. It rewards them well: They hold professional jobs, drive nice cars, live in nice houses with nice families in nice neighborhoods where Politically Correct bicycle rides down quiet streets are an easy pastime. They don 't really want the system to change too much. Nonetheless, they do favor some limits being put on its excesses and a certain amount of social assistance for the less well off.
Since I don't expect the system to change, I'll go on voting Democrat even though they dump in my face, simply because elephant turds are much bigger.
