By Owen Paine on Wednesday May 10, 2006 10:23 AM
I've thrown this out in a comment panel
on my party hero, the peerless WJ Bryan,
who so far as I can see,
never for a moment confused
his party's success - a party he served faithfully his whole life -
with the march of democracy itself.
His ultimate loyalty was to the people, not his party.
So in that light I here bring forth, up top and impersonal, my Bryanoid pledge to all party members and fellow travellers. I call it the open ballot anti-partisan pledge:
I will never again vote for any Democratic candidate who will not pledge his or her unswervable best efforts to open the ballot as wide as possible to independent and third party candidates. Put the small 'd' back in big 'D' politics!
Comments (7)
Outstanding! Count me in.
Posted by AlanSmithee | May 10, 2006 11:58 AM
Posted on May 10, 2006 11:58
It is unlikely that any Democrat is going to accomodate third parties, which is why effectively the better vow is just never to vote for Democrats, period. Democrats have always been quite firm and commited to smashing third party efforts. It is what they did with respect to Nader, for example, and even the most liberal of them, like Kucinich, have always been behind efforts at blocking third parties.
As an example of the way the Democrats work, note that some of the leading liberal Democrats in Congress have been behind a bill that would more or less ban third parties from Congressional elections. That's the reality of the duopoly, and that isn't going to change any time soon.
Some time ago, I wrote an entry in my blog called The duopoly takes care of its own that discusses this.
Posted by Haikuist | May 10, 2006 7:29 PM
Posted on May 10, 2006 19:29
You know one of my political heroes has always been Debs who rather succinctly summed up my voting philosophy back when he said, "I'd rather vote for something I want and not get it than vote for something I don't want, and get it."
What considerate, thinking human being would want to be complicit in mass murder and deliberate mass impoverishment?
Posted by Tim D | May 11, 2006 1:10 AM
Posted on May 11, 2006 01:10
Damn. Can't read it.
Hey, Haikuist, can you redo that link ?
Posted by alsis39.9 | May 11, 2006 8:51 AM
Posted on May 11, 2006 08:51
Here's Haikuist's link:
http://haikupolitics.blogspot.com/2006/02/duopoly-protects-its-own.html.
I think.
Posted by J. Alva Scruggs | May 11, 2006 10:57 PM
Posted on May 11, 2006 22:57
I guess I somehow didn't post the link correctly, so here it is again: http://haikupolitics.blogspot.com/2006/02/duopoly-protects-its-own.html
Posted by Haikuist | May 12, 2006 2:11 AM
Posted on May 12, 2006 02:11
Ah, Thanks. I'd actually read it before but didn't remember who'd written it, H.
Posted by alsis39.9 | May 13, 2006 12:58 PM
Posted on May 13, 2006 12:58