More than 15,000 people in Arizona have registered to join a new political party floating a possible bipartisan “unity ticket” against Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

While that’s less than the population of each of the state’s 40 largest cities, it’s still a number big enough to tip the presidential election in a critical swing state. And that is alarming people trying to stop Trump from winning the White House again.

The very existence of the No Labels group is fanning Democratic anxiety about Trump’s chances against an incumbent president facing questions about his age and record. While it hasn’t committed to running candidates for president and vice president, No Labels has already secured ballot access in Arizona and 10 other states. Its organizers say they are on track to reach 20 states by the end of this year and all 50 states by Election Day.

  • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Ah, I remember when I thought voting third party would matter. Hey kids. Take it from someone who voted for Johnson in 2016. I get that voting strategically fucking sucks, and you want to make your voice heard, but it is not worth getting Donald Trump elected just to be part of the 3% that said “I don’t like either of these people.” With any luck, third parties won’t give the presidency to republicans next year, and one or two supreme court justices will die or retire in the next five years, allowing us to start repairing our rights. Because justices nominated by Biden will suck, but justices nominated by Trump (or God forbid, Desantis) will suck in the same ways and much, much worse.

    • fubo@lemmy.world
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      Yes, exactly. Both of these things can be true at the same time:

      1. First-past-the-post plurality voting is a crappy system, devised before humanity discovered the math of voting systems. It has all kinds of predictably terrible results.
      2. It is currently the system we have. Because of this, if people who object to fascism fail to vote for a non-fascist candidate who can win, then the fascists will win.

      Anyone who disregards point 2 because of point 1 thereby ends up materially supporting fascism. This is unfortunate but that doesn’t make it false.

      “But I want to vote my principles!” Great! Is one of your principles “fascists should lose”? If so, then please make sure to take the steps that support that principle!

      Currently in the US there are two parties that can credibly take the presidential election: the center-right party and the fascist party. This is unfortunate but that doesn’t make it false.

      Vote third party in local elections. Elect a Socialist mayor or a Libertarian judge; a Green sheriff or a Communist dogcatcher. Build those local party networks. Support approval voting or other voting systems that actually make some mathematical sense. But please don’t let the fascists win because you’re pissed off at the voting system.

        • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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          If you cannot distinguish between a wannabe dictator and an authority figure using their authority, you might be too fucking stupid for politics.

            • muse@kbin.social
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              Dude, one side wants to eradicate my people. Shut the absolute fuck up

              • Armen12@lemm.ee
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                I’m a minority, so no, I won’t shut up, but thanks for showing me why you people are just as bad as republicans. You think it’s ok to demonize marginalized people and I don’t think that’s right.

            • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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              The authority being unjust is wholly different than a fucking despot attempting a coup… Again, if you cannot understand the difference, you are too stupid for politics.

            • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
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              Listen, I get where you’re coming from: I don’t think any branch of the US government has legitimate power, and their authority is as farcical as if some watery tart had lobbed a scimitar at them and declared them king of the Britons.

              But regardless, lots of people believe in the intersubjective reality of “America” and while they’re all collectively insane, they can use violence to get what they want. I’d rather they use violence to not kill my children.

              Plus, Democrats are weak so if we kill the Republican party we’ll have an easier time overthrowing the capitalist Democrats.

        • TheHiddenCatboy@lemmy.world
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          They really aren’t Fascists. Hey, I did a 14 point analysis on the two parties! Here’s the summary: 1: Powerful and Continuing Nationalism: R***, D*. 2: Disregard for Human Rights: R***, D* 3: ID of Enemies as Unifying Cause: R***, D* 4: Supremacy of the Military: R**, D** 5: Widespread Sexism: R***, D 6: Controlled Mass Media: R***, D* 7: Obsession with National Security: R***, D* 8: Religion and Government Intertwined: R***, D 9: Corporate Power Protected: R***, D*** 10: Labour Power Suppressed: R***, D* 11: Disrespect of Arts and Intellectuals: R***, D* 12: Obsession with Crime and Punishment: R***, D* 13: Rampant Cronyism and Corruption: R***, D* 14: Fraudulent Elections: R***, D*

          I go into lots of detail about why I award the stars (*) above. Zero Stars means I think the party is actually really damn good about this topic. One star means they have some problems but are otherwise fair. Two means they have a real problem with this, despite making some headway on righting it. And 3 stars means they aren’t even bothering to do anything about it and are in Hitler/Mussolini levels of devotion to Fascist ideals. As you can see, I ranked the Republicans 3 Stars on everything, with the Dems really only joining the Reps when it comes to protecting corporate interests.

          What do you rank the Dems on this list, and more importantly, why? I mean, if you asked the Republicans, Dems hate the US and want to see it fail, so they’d not get any points for 1, 4, 7 or 8, and, according to Republicans, we’re all baby-eating, baby-f***ing Satan worshippers, so the only religion we want intertwined with government is Satanism, but we all hate Christians, so we can’t be guilty of 8. I’d be interested to see your take of how the Dems match the 14 characteristics of Fascism. Maybe we’ll learn something about you here.

          • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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            This is a hard comment to read on my end, because the asterisks are being used for italics and bolds, and the single line breaks don’t cause a line break in the displayed text

          • Wakmrow@lemmy.world
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            I mean your own analysis proves that other posts point. The Dems are fascist as well, just not as overt.

    • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
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      One thing I liked about living in a safely blue state is I could vote for whoever I wanted without risking the destruction of the planet.

      But Fetterman’s my senator so I guess that’s cool

    • rambaroo@lemmy.world
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      I’m sure third party voters aren’t turned off at all by people condescending them and calling them children.

      • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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        I didn’t mean to call all third party voters kids, I was addressing people for whom '24 will be their first election. If it’s not your first election and you still haven’t figured out that third parties are a trap, I’m not even gonna try to convince you otherwise.

    • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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      Take it from someone who voted for Johnson in 2016

      You mean a Republican who smokes weed? 🙄 If the libertarian party was your first choice, the GOP were your second, so by your own binary logic, that was a vote taken from Trump, not Hillary.

      • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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        Nah, by the time November rolled around my choices were Johnson>Clinton>Trump

        I was 18, not exactly the most politically intelligent kid

    • Tomatoes [they/them]@lemmygrad.ml
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      It seems that you and your responders have all forgotten what the electoral college is.

      I remember when I bought into “voting third party throws away your vote.” Hey kids, take it from someone who grew up in a blue state. I get that thinking strategically fucking sucks, and you want to go with the herd, but it is not worth keeping the establishment party established just so you can be part of the 80% of people who say, “The actually good candidate wasn’t electable.” With any luck, solid states that show growing support for third parties will start applying the pressure that any incumbent party needs. Because the Supreme Court sucks not just because of Trump, but also because of Obama’s milquetoast policies before that, and another Justice’s refusal to retire when she knew the level of risk.

      (Using your format limited my response, but the most important thing I’ve been learning lately is that voting is the token the government gives us so that our politics start and stop with the ballot. You can say “Why not vote and be politically active?” and I’d agree. But I’m concerned about how most people just forget to do anything after they vote.)

      • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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        I guess if you’re conservative, the stacking of the supreme court was worth it. Our Nine Godkings will fuck up our rights for decades to come thanks to Trump.

        • NormandyEssex@lemmy.world
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          I just don’t want to vote for two candidates and parties I don’t like. I’m voting the way everyone is supposed to.

          • muse@kbin.social
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            That’s nice. Explain that to your kids when you get the team elected that ends voting for more than a single party