Vote Along Party Lines or Die!

[freeandbrave]

Hold your nose. It’s Election Day!

Many people become aghast at the mere mention of voting along party lines. "How could you?" "Why don't you think for yourself!" blah, blah, blah. I encourage these people to first take a deep breath and second to think deeply about how American government works. For clarity, ask yourself this one question, "Does your view on most issues tend to (more often than not) a) follow the Democratic line b) follow the Republican line c) be evenly mixed between the Democratic and Republican line, or d) lie completely outside the Democratic or Republican lines?"

If your answer is either a) or b), then your best strategy for the long-term promotion of your positions is to always vote along party lines. This is why:

For Congress (state and federal) or city council: The most obvious reason for party-line voting is that your party and its policies are useless without critical mass. The reality is that nothing can be accomplished in the senate, the house, the assembly, or the city council without a majority in favor of any given position. In addition, the ruling party is the one that primarily sets the agenda for that legislative body. They also typically hold the body's highest position as well as the chairs of the individual committees.

For President, Governor or Mayor: Okay, so even if you agree with the argument about party-line voting in the legislative branch, you still might be skeptical of such tactics in the executive branch. Fair enough. Think of it this way. When you vote for the president, governor or even the mayor, you might rationalize that these candidates, although not with your usual party, seem quite reasonable, charismatic and nice. Her views are not extreme and besides "your" candidate is kind of a dud for this election cycle. So you vote for her. She wins and all is well.... at first. Quickly you start to discover that she isn't quite the moderate you had at first thought. Indeed, her appointed cabinet members certainly do not follow her middle-of-the-road persona and a couple of them are outright extremists! You notice that the cabinet members are the ones setting policy and you are outraged by some of their proposals.

In addition, she has been using her position to endorse candidates running for other offices that, frankly, make you sick. How could she do that? Then come the Judicial appointments, loading the benches with partisan, ideologue, activist hacks! Sound familiar??

Finally, a governor is typically a state's most powerful fundraiser for his or her party, touting a statewide network of financial and political connections. The rule of thumb is that a governor gives his party's presidential candidate an instant 2-3% boost in the statewide polls.

The bottom line is that you must sacrifice the tree for the forest if you genuinely want to promote your overall ideology. It is a painful fact of life that the strategically correct, and perhaps personally distasteful thing to do is occasionally vote for a perceived "dud" to save the world. You can disagree with this till your hair falls out. Unfortunately, it is the practical reality that we live in.

Today, I’ll be holding my nose as I enter the voting booth here in NYC, I ask that you do the same.

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Cross-posted at: Political Cortex!

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[electropop]

1. Holding my nose in VA, voting for the Semicrat, Kaine.

The independent candidate for Governor is actually a lot more liberal than the Democrat (though Potts, the independent is actually a Republican). But a vote for Potts is a vote for Kilgore, who despite some last-minute "help" from Bush is strong in the polls. So I'm voting for Kaine to get a Semicrat, rather than Kilgore (RW nutjob).

[Ignacio Upton]

9. Don't fall for the robocall bullshit that Kilgore did

The Republican Governor's Association put out messages from "Tim Kaine" in Demcoratic parts of the Virginia trying to make him out to be an ultra-conservative, while at the same time they had calls made to people in Republicans areas describing him as ultra-liberal.

[electropop]

15. I got the info on each candidate from his own web site.

Kaine's self-description sounds fairly corporatist. Potter's uses many of my favorite buzzwords such as "reality-based education."

[welshTerrier2]

2. "you must sacrifice the tree for the forest"

sometimes you have to cut down a few of the large, unhealthy trees to make room for new growth ... some of these unhealthy trees are obstacles to new growth ... these candidates should be weeded out ...

compromise to a point is fine but voting for those who don't represent your core beliefs or who have failed to listen to and interact with their constituents is crazy ...

[freeandbrave]

6. Crazy only to the point that

it is the lesser of 2 evils. Support for the Democratic party is what will drive it back in our direction. Not punishing them with a third party vote.

[expatriot]

3. I vote straight Democrat and yes on every bond

unless that bond is corporate welfare. To me, it is all about the public sector. Democrats, no matter their stance on social or international issues pretty much believe in the bread and butter role of government and are out to build it up and make it work for the people.... Republicans are out to discredit and dismantle government's helping role and to disengage people from their civic responsibilities.

[William769]

4. Yellow dog Democrat here!

What can I say?

[karynnj]

5. I disagree with this

I understand the critical mass and the idea that in the legislatures an important vote is who they vote as leader. But, I think that leads to a cheapening of the process and fewer good winners. Also, it may be that we are really the minority party right now - if everyone did as you said that would become fixed in stone forever. It also encourages each party to go to their extreme. Bad for two reasons. Less bi-partisanship and the leadership is more radical (and Republican now).

In my Republican county, in liberal secular NJ - there were many Republicans who voted for their first Democrat last year. Kerry was ok by them and Bush scared them. Will they vote Democratic today - who knows? Corzine has problems Kerry didn't and Forrester is not as RW as Bush. But would you want to lose the ability to move these people when we have the better candidate?

[obreaslan]

7. This is my strategy as well...

I have always been more of an independent voter. I usually vote 3rd party or Democrat depending on the issues, but never Republican. I have never come across a Republican that jives with my own beliefs. After the 2000 election i made the decision that the only way we are ever going to get this country back on track is to vote the party lines, and by that I of course mean Democratic Party lines. I am definitely more left of most Democratic candidates, but it is necessary to vote Democrat to remove these Republicans and their corruption from power. I don't like the 2 party system, but until we can put the wheels back on the cart, we need to vote for those who are more likely to support our issues. At least Democrats are more likely to listen to reason, and listen to the voices of their constituents. Republicans could care less about what the people of this country want. Look at the poll results on the key issues, and you will clearly see that the Republicans don't care what the American people think. They only care what their corporate masters tell them to do.

Today, in NJ, I will go into the booth and vote straight down the Democratic column. I urge all of you to do the same when you can. Perhaps one day we won't be considered the Democratic Underground and can become the Democratic Mainstream. Although, I believe we actually are, we are just being fooled by the corporate media whores.

[freeandbrave]

8. Republicans have already proven

that the strategy works -- and that is probably why left-leaners will reject it. sigh!

[wiley]

10. You're right

[obreaslan]

16. Unfortunately, this is one time we need to be like them.

This is why they win and we are left hanging our heads every November.

We need to organize the left like a labor union. The unions vote in a block because the Democrats support workers rights. Even though a certain candidate does not agree 100% with someone's ideals, they vote because they know that this is the person who will look out for their interests the best. A prime example, my uncle. A racist if ever there was one. Very religious and very anti-homosexual. He always votes Democrat because Democrats are pro-union. He doesn't whine that the candidate supports the right to choose or that he supports gay marriage, he knows that the Republican will try to take away workers rights and the Democrat will protect his job. He votes in his best interest like each of us should. If the Democrat is not as left as you would like, and you vote 3rd party, you don't make the situation better. You guarantee that the Republican wins and uses their corrupt power to move the country further to the right.

[DanCa]

11. The big picture vote on the issues not the candidate.

[freeandbrave]

12. Issues follow ideology.

ideology should be reflected in party.

[MadHound]

13. And it is thanks to attitudes like this

That we wind up with the Democratic party going ever further rightward, becoming ever more corporately corrupted, and having both presidential candidates taking the pro war stance.

People, if you don't hold the parties and the canidates accountable, who is? And if you don't hold the parties and the candidates accountable, how in the hell do you think things are going to get better.

Lockstep thinking and lockstep actions are not good for any political or government entity. Once in awhile you have absolutely got to hold our so called leaders accountable, and force them to do what needs to be done. After all, this IS government by, of and for the people, not the politicians and certainly not the corporations. I think that it is high time we started reminding them of that.

[AX10]

14. That's what I did, and proudly too.

We have only local elections, but our Democrats, including the incumbent mayor are doing a wonderful job.

I cannot vote for any Republican because they are all backing Bush and the criminal machine that has hijacked this country.

:dem: