ok well i dont mean to get crazy on you BUT
the real problem here as far as i am concerned is the two-party element of this- the idea that because one guy is awful, you now have to vote for the other guy (who may be just as awful or worse?)
alternatively, if there is a legitimate third party candidate (or more than one) then this problem dissolves. think about how fringe and weird trump seemed and now he has legions of folk behind him. it's weird, right?
anyway- the closest contender is gary johnson now. i like gary, even though i dont understand or agree with a lot that he says. this isnt a political thread so if you want to make fun of arachno-capitalism pls go to the other thread. the thing about gary is, the libertarian platform is very relatable (let people do what they want, stop giving rich people government breaks, stop bombing shit) and yet nobody seems to know or care. so, how do you "legitimize" the party?
1) the debate commission has to let you actually be in the debates. this is a racket, and gary is actually currently helping to sue the debate commission for this.
2) to get into the debate, you need to poll at ~15%. gary is polling 10 or 11% in some places. the racket here is that the two-party establishment/assumption (of which the debate commission is a part) wont even put gary in the polls in some cases. meaning, instead of saying "look gary, we gave you a fair shot and it didnt work" they are giving the weasely answer of "well gary, you arent polling high enough (because you arent being asked about at all ha ha ha)"
3) if gary gets into the debate, you will get trump vs hillary vs johnson which is a huge step
gary johnson got 1% of the total general vote last time (2012), and if hes polling at 10% now it's certainly likely that he will do even better. and now that bernie is out, i would believe that the number will go even higher. though gary says he wouldnt be running if he didnt have a chance, he acknowledges that its still important to show there is legitimate opposition to the establishment and that he can still put some new ideas into the zeitgeist even if he's not the one carrying that flag
the real problem here as far as i am concerned is the two-party element of this- the idea that because one guy is awful, you now have to vote for the other guy (who may be just as awful or worse?)
alternatively, if there is a legitimate third party candidate (or more than one) then this problem dissolves. think about how fringe and weird trump seemed and now he has legions of folk behind him. it's weird, right?
anyway- the closest contender is gary johnson now. i like gary, even though i dont understand or agree with a lot that he says. this isnt a political thread so if you want to make fun of arachno-capitalism pls go to the other thread. the thing about gary is, the libertarian platform is very relatable (let people do what they want, stop giving rich people government breaks, stop bombing shit) and yet nobody seems to know or care. so, how do you "legitimize" the party?
1) the debate commission has to let you actually be in the debates. this is a racket, and gary is actually currently helping to sue the debate commission for this.
2) to get into the debate, you need to poll at ~15%. gary is polling 10 or 11% in some places. the racket here is that the two-party establishment/assumption (of which the debate commission is a part) wont even put gary in the polls in some cases. meaning, instead of saying "look gary, we gave you a fair shot and it didnt work" they are giving the weasely answer of "well gary, you arent polling high enough (because you arent being asked about at all ha ha ha)"
3) if gary gets into the debate, you will get trump vs hillary vs johnson which is a huge step
gary johnson got 1% of the total general vote last time (2012), and if hes polling at 10% now it's certainly likely that he will do even better. and now that bernie is out, i would believe that the number will go even higher. though gary says he wouldnt be running if he didnt have a chance, he acknowledges that its still important to show there is legitimate opposition to the establishment and that he can still put some new ideas into the zeitgeist even if he's not the one carrying that flag
![[Image: Sd9744R.png]](http://i.imgur.com/Sd9744R.png)