There Are Three Political Parties in the United States

[MineralMan]

They are the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and the Disgruntled Party.

A candidate from one of the first two parties wins in 99.9% of all major elections. The third party wins in none, but attacks both of the others, either directly or indirectly.

The thing about the Disgruntled Party is that it has no platform other than to oppose candidates and elected officials of the two major parties. It attacks from both the Far Right and the Far Left. You can see it at work the moment an election is over and a winner is announced.

The Disgruntled Party began attacking Barack Obama as soon as the election results were announced. It attacked Hillary Clinton even before the election took place, and managed to cause her to lose in 2016. It almost caused Joe Biden to lose in 2020. The subtle attacks against Joe Biden have already begun, even before he is inaugurated. They will continue throughout his term in office.

It doesn't matter to the Disgruntled Party who wins, actually. The winner will either not be far enough left or far enough right to please the DP's extreme points of view.

The Disgruntled Party cannot win, but it can create havoc and even chaos, regardless of who wins.

As you read punditry in the media, keep that third party in mind. You will hear from it, again and again.

[Aristus]

1. The battle cry of the left wing of the Disgruntled Party:

"Joe Biden has to earn my vote!"

[MineralMan]

3. Yes. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama too.

How many times did we see such statements about them? I can't count that high.

[redstatebluegirl]

2. I totally agree.

My husband and I were talking about this the other night. The far right and far left of both parties determine so much of what happens in both parties, for being a minority, they sure have a lot of power.

[maxsolomon]

5. and ironically, it's the mushy flibberdigibbets in the middle that determine the outcome

the ones that would vote for obama, then trump, then biden.

low-information flibberdigibbets.

[redstatebluegirl]

6. Sorry, not low information here, don't insult a large portion of Democrats.

[maxsolomon]

8. didn't think i was. i'm quite aware that you're not low-information.

I'm "insulting" the center of the electorate who change their minds. Who aren't Dems.

MM's "Disgruntled Party" is real, I just don't think they're determinate in elections.

[MineralMan]

10. I do not think they are determinate in elections at all.

What they are is disruptive in elections, often causing an oscillation between the two major parties. Despite being a tiny minority of the electorate, their activities often swing elections from one side of the line to the other, and then back again soon thereafter.

The Disgruntled Party will never win an election, but it will disrupt elections again and again, until we stop paying attention to its disruptive message.

[JonLP24]

13. The Obama-Trump voters

A new study reveals the real reason Obama voters switched to Trump
Hint: It has to do with race.

“White voters with racially conservative or anti-immigrant attitudes switched votes to Trump at a higher rate than those with more liberal views on these issues,” the paper’s authors write. “We find little evidence that economic dislocation and marginality were significantly related to vote switching in 2016.”

This new paper fits with a sizeable slate of studies conducted over the past 18 months or so, most of which have come to the same conclusions: There is tremendous evidence that Trump voters were motivated by racial resentment (as well as hostile sexism), and very little evidence that economic stress had anything to do with it.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/10/16/17980820/trump-obama-2016-race-racism-class-economy-2018-midterm

I consider Trump to be a far right nationalist and people that vote for him are not the "middle". If it is then Alex Jones is the center.

[maxsolomon]

16. I met a Biden voter with distinctly retrograde opinions this weekend.

Record Store owner in Mt. Vernon, WA. He wanted to engage me about letting (Christian) prayer back in schools, specifically religious carols at Holiday concerts, for some reason. He basically doesn't know what he's talking about.

I let it go, because he voted for Biden and finds Trump morally repugnant. I don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Also, my Dad voted for Trump. He is not a far-right nationalist, at least not consciously. He is an old man (84) who once voted for McGovern & Carter.

[MineralMan]

19. I believe that the massive bulk of voters in the US

could not describe their political positions very clearly at all. Elections swing on the whim of that enormous group of voters. What motivates them to vote one way or another is very difficult to assess, and almost impossible to predict. That amorphous group is why populism is so successful, I believe, and is why populism is so dangerous.

[Turin_C3PO]

14. Disagree

The far right definitely has too much power. But the far left? Nah. Most Dems are ideologically in between centrist and far left. Most of us are plain old liberals in other words and I think that's accurately reflected in our Washington representatives. In any case, there's no equivalency between the far right and far left. One group wants to make our country fascist and the other might gripe about centrists on Twitter. Plus the far left's ideas aren't centered in cruelty like the far rights'.

[struggle4progress]

4. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly?

[MineralMan]

7. That's another way to put it, yes.

Our progress as a nation has been steadily blocked by the activities of the Disgruntled Party. Whether its members are functional anarchists or dysfunctional fascists, that party consistently pulls us down, regardless of who wins our major elections.

The DP's disparate members don't know that they are working toward the same goal. They don't understand that their activities mean that they are working together, despite their insistence that they are enemies. They think they represent two very different philosophies, but their actions do nothing but disrupt. That's why I lump them together into one Disgruntled Party.

[Hortensis]

25. Agree. Notably their leaders provide "platforms" in the form of

vague promises -- but to attack from and to provide catchphrases for followers to chant, not to actually win and implement.

For one instance, both the biggest right and left Disgruntled leaders ran on repealing the ACA and replacing it with promises of far better programs with far better coverages for far less money.

But never more than promises. Neither had to come through and neither expected to. That's why neither created a genuine, viable program, which could be produced for scrutiny on line or on paper, at any point over the past 5 years. It wasn't about healthcare for either, but about making little disgruntleds feel they could afford to vote against Democrats.

[MineralMan]

27. That's an excellent example, I think.

Healthcare is possibly the knottiest issue there is. Horrendously expensive, yet essential for everyone. Even the Disgruntleds from both sides want to be able to get medical care if they need it. In fact, they insist on it, as they should. How to arrange things so that everyone gets care, though, is not such an easy problem to solve. In fact, equitably available healthcare is almost impossible to manage, regardless of how it is set up.

Creating a working healthcare system is an enormously complicated thing, so it's not something most Disgruntleds can even comprehend, much less design. So, they demand one thing or another, but cannot come up with a plan that works, or even a plan that they think might work. It's too complicated. But, they know that what has been designed is no good. That's something they can complain about and be dissatisfied with. A perfect issue for them.

[Hortensis]

28. "while the worst are full of passionate intensity." Yeats did not

differentiate between right and left Disgruntled passions, only between those fighting to hold the centre together and those whose passionate intensity looses anarchy on the world, and in so doing throws the doors open for the coming of the great beast.

They want healthcare, but making "Things fall apart" by marching behind the leaders who created that passionate intensity is far more deeply and immediately satisfying. And so they choose to "know" that what their leaders call them to destroy must be.

[MineralMan]

29. Yeats knew his stuff.

Societies are living organisms, subject to all sorts of fearsome systemic illnesses.

I won't elaborate further. Others have already done that and more eloquently than I could do on short notice.

[NurseJackie]

9. The Disgruntled Party is always eager to complain, denigrate, insult and belittle...

... they'll demand that Democrats must "earn" their vote (and they're eager to withhold their votes as "punishment" or "revenge'') but other than talk, I really don't see a lot of meaningful action.

The Disgruntled Party cannot win, but it can create havoc and even chaos, regardless of who wins.

The Democrats have the Donkey. The GOP has the Elephant. What is the symbol (or spirit animal) of the Disgruntled Party?

[MineralMan]

12. Perhaps a venomous serpent?

That's how I look at the Disgruntled Party.

[NurseJackie]

15. Perhaps... a scorpion that cannot be trusted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scorpion_and_the_Frog

A scorpion, which cannot swim, asks a frog to carry it across a river on the frog's back. The frog hesitates, afraid of being stung by the scorpion, but the scorpion argues that if it did that, they would both drown. The frog considers this argument sensible and agrees to transport the scorpion. Midway across the river, the scorpion stings the frog anyway, dooming them both. The dying frog asks the scorpion why it stung despite knowing the consequence, to which the scorpion replies: "I couldn't help it. It's in my nature."[1][2]

The Scorpion and the Frog has often been attributed to Aesop, but it does not appear in any collection of his fables prior to the 20th century.[2][12] However, there are earlier fables attributed to Aesop which teach similar morals regarding trust. These include The Farmer and the Viper, which warns that kindness will not stop a scoundrel from hurting its benefactor, and The Frog and the Mouse, which warns that treacherous friends often hurt themselves in the process.[13]

[MineralMan]

17. Another possibility.

Perhaps a scorpion riding on a viper, symbolizing the two extremes of the Disgruntled Party.

[NurseJackie]

20. This?

[MineralMan]

21. Perfect!

[JonLP24]

11. The disgruntled party is those that don't vote for any of the candidates

I wouldn't say the disgruntled don't have a platform. There are people that won't vote for Democrats due to a single issue like abortion and vice versa. Someone may vote third party because they don't like the foreign policy of either candidate. I reach out & discuss with all wings except for Republicans so I have an idea what people want or don't want.

Personally I think the real "moderates" are apolitical types because they aren't biased or have partisan leanings to either party.

Besides it was progressives who were attacked while the election results were coming in. There were even people suggesting we move right on immigration. I already went through all that with Russell Pearce & Sheriff Joe here in Arizona.

[Turin_C3PO]

18. As long as people

vote Democratic then I don't care if they complain from within the Party. That's their right. It's the ones who don't vote that I have a problem with.

[MineralMan]

24. They don't vote Democratic, though, at least not consistently.

Oscillation is the result. One of the perils of our form of democracy is that oscillation. At times, it is relatively benign, but in some cases it swings too widely and we get a Donald Trump or an Adolph Hitler. When populism swings an election too far, the balance is upset, leading to unpredictable consequences.

The amplitude of the oscillation seems to be increasing, and that's very worrisome on a historical scale, it seems to me.

[LeftInTX]

26. Agree

[Hortensis]

30. The subject is the latter and those who vote against Democrats

because antagonistic lies found eager breeding grounds in them. A hunger to have their various resentments and hostile aggressions fed that some leaders aren't too good to exploit and turn into national bonfires.

Btw, antagonism has been identified as a very common characteristic of those drawn to populist leaders, who promise them angry mobs to join and break "the centre" from. And of course resentful imaginings of being victimized in favor of others underlie that in many.

[Turin_C3PO]

31. I definitely

have no sympathy for those kind of people. Anyone who won’t vote for the only sane political party in America in favor of some imagined “purity” are people who I can’t respect.

[Hortensis]

32. I wobble. Most don't really know what they're doing or why.

Seriously. Just ask them to explain and they'll recite some unexamined catchphrase Challenge those and most are immediately in over their heads, clinging furiously to the indefensible deceits they've been fed. It's identifying.

I doubt one in ten of Sanders supporters knows what socialism actually is -- certainly nothing like the "roads and schools" we already have or Europe's capitalism-based prosperity, any more than Trump's told his followers what being one of "my people" in an authoritarian state would mean to them.

They are victims -- not of Democrats who don't babysit them in a grownup world but of those who play them against themselves to gain power. So my withers are somewhat wrung, when I'm not too angry and disgusted.

[Turin_C3PO]

33. Even

most Sanders voters did the right thing and voted for Biden. It’s a small minority of people who go down the path of destruction that you outlined above.

[Hortensis]

34. Oh, absolutely! We're not talking Democrats who used Sanders

to pressure the party to "do more." They're Democrats. They're us.

When it comes to Sanders's subset of Disgruntleds, we're talking about both those angry whites who went to Trump by way of Sanders to fight against too much equality and also the always intransigent leftists who refused to vote Democrat in 2016, 2018, and 2020 (also 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, etc). They all claimed to be "Progressive" because that's the label Sanders gave them, but half voted Republican in 2016 and the other half voted third party -- also to defeat America's progressive party.

Sanders didn't exactly have to drug his so-called "purists" to make them believe Democrats were corrupt and "just as bad." They always knew and insisted that, and that's what he used to scoop this leaderless group up when Elizabeth Warren decided not to run in 2015. She wouldn't have run a populist anti-Democratic campaign anyway, ceding the most intransigent to Jill Stein or some other anti-Democratic whackjob.

[bluestarone]

22. Maybe even a FOURTH party of

I just don't give a shit party, so i will NOT VOTE?

[newdayneeded]

23. GOP

I really hope trump forms the MAGA party, but not for reasons you think. It would be for the good of the country if they could branch off and slowly fade away. this country longs for a GOP party that is reasonable again. Once the magats are in their own party both the GOP and Dems can ignore them.

[we can do it]

35. You forgot the lazy don't bother to vote party.