2008 Election Results (President, Senate, House)

Here are live, up-to-the-minute, results for the presidential, Senate and House elections…

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How to Challenge Democratic and Republican Ideas

Everyone once in a while, I’ll see a passionate defense of third party voting in the general election, even if there’s no chance of them winning. The defense always goes something like this:

Because they work together (along with the media) to effectively-silence debate outside of Democrats and Republicans in elections. And I feel real change will come when a third party candidate wins the Presidency. Not saying McCain and Obama can’t implement “change” but it’s always colored in two-party political paint. No disrespect to those who support Democrats and Republicans.

I think this view is patently ridiculous. Here’s why.

It’s true, there’s only two winnable candidates in the general election. And if we lived in a Parliamentary Democracy, there might be more, or at least have a system where a third party vote is not wasted. So if you want to argue for a Constitutional Convention for that, go ahead.

The reality of the current system, though, is that there’s two entrenched parties. This has proven to not be just a historical quirk, but an entrenched electoral reality. However, what is possible is to dramatically change what these parties stand for. Parties often change what they stand for. In fact, up until 1860, there was even great fluctuation in the names of the parties and identities. Now, that change takes place on a lower level. Republicans today stand for many different things than they did in 1920, for instance. And even now, there’s intense discussion of where conservatism and Republicans go should McCain lose as badly as it seems.

The operative question for people not happy with what the parties stand for should be: How do we change what these parties stand for. Libertarians now should be chomping at the bit to dramatically affect the future of the GOP. But even before now, there’s the question of primaries. Ron Paul did far, far more for the cause of libertarians by running in the primaries than Barr or even Paul himself did by running as a third party candidate.

Third party voting is essentially small scale tyranny of the minority: some people who would otherwise have a preference in the real election that decide to abdicate any choice just to make themselves feel better. The money and resources that are poured into third parties would be far better spent trying to influence the direction of a party, instead of glorifying a vanity campaign by a former government official.

In short, I find the core excuse behind third party voting to be dramatically proven untrue. Anything Ralph Nader wanted to promote through his campaign he probably could have done in such a way as to not siphon votes from Al Gore. If libertarians put more effort into pushing the GOP towards them and not building a wall around themselves and demanding purity, they’d probably be better off too in the long run.

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Third Party Debate Cancelled

We were prepared to liveblog any event that does happen, but no candidate wants to appear opposite any other candidate at the same event. 

 

Barr claimed a conflict while McKinney opted for an online debate originally scheduled for that evening. Baldwin was reluctant to travel to New York. Nader was willing to participate, aides say, but, seeing the debate falling apart all week, held back.

McKinney, it turns out, also had another reason for staying in her hometown of Atlanta, said her running mate, Rosa Clemente. McKinney is attending the Black Panther Party annual reunion.

 

So much for these runs being about ideas instead of egos.

In short, the excuses:

 

• Bob Barr thinks he’s above the event; he considers himself the third wheel in the general election, not among this rabble.
• Ralph Nader doesn’t want to be the only one to commit, which would telegraph his desparation. 
• Cynthia McKinney does not want to leave the Black Panther convention.
• Chuck Baldwin does not want to fly into New York City.

 

They’re ridiculous.

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Will Bob Barr Show Up To The Third Party Debate?

This Sunday at Columbia University, the third party debate is being held. Chuck Baldwin, Cynthia McKinney, and Ralph Nader have all indicated that they intend on attending. Bob Barr has resisted because he wants to debate only Ralph Nader. That’s right, the Libertarian party candidate is too uppity to debate anyone else, even a fellow former member of Congress (McKinney) or someone endorsed by Ron Paul (Baldwin) - an endorsement that Barr quite openly sought.

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John McCain’s Youtube Channel is Awful

Just a random thought on a Friday, but why does John McCain’s Youtube channel only have ads up, and not video footage of recent campaign events or interviews?

Obama’s Youtube page has long form ads and excerpts from his speeches.

McCain’s channel is not even as informative as Bob Barr’s Youtube Channel. I’m not recommending McCain record videos from a dimly lit office building, but giving some information or longer form ads would be a good thing. Chuck Baldwin’s Youtube page is even more informative, and it’s clear that I, a poor graduate student, have more money than him.

I can understand wanting ads on your page, but why only have ads? The GOP is still far behind in using the internet in any meaningful way. Right now, it’s just a dumping ground for salacious ads they want cable news to talk about, but that the campaign does not want to put any money behind.

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