Is there a perfect 3rd Party?

[Sheepshank]

Article by Chris Hedges...and others that have similar thoughts, and talk about voting for a third party. Obama isn't delivering everything they wanted.

So for the sake of trying to understand this thought process...is there a party that if elected WILL deliver everything a progressive liberal wants?

[TheWraith]

1. No. It's a creation of fantasy.

As long as a candidate isn't actually RESPONSIBLE for anything, or in any way constrained by the real world as opposed to rhetoric, it's easy to pretend that they'd be perfect.

[Sheepshank]

5. Like the polls that had the Generic Republican ahead of Obama.....

but the reality of Gingrich or Romney has different resuls?

[TheWraith]

15. Exactly. In this case it's "Generic Perfect Progressive Party."

Then you get into the weeds of nominating somebody like Cynthia McKinney, who's a total fucking lunatic, or people with absolutely no experience in government. Not to mention that if such people ever actually got elected, the Angry Left would throw them under the bus within seconds, since they'd promptly either compromise their ideological purity or manage to start fucking up the actual governance of the country.

[gateley]

2. I think a third party would be faced with the same roadblocks, especially a third party

with a "liberal agenda".

[Robb]

3. Jus' askin', tho.

[redqueen]

17. I'm curious, too.

If it's a serious effort to elect someone, anyway.

If it's just meant as a gesture, to send a message, then whatever.

[yodermon]

4. work to make the Democratic party *BETTER*

Occupy the DNC.

[leftofcool]

6. As long as big bucks control our elections, there is no better Democratic Party

[kctim]

7. Not unless you give them a progressive/liberal House and Senate

and that's NOT going to happen.
So no.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

8. "A journey of a thousand li starts with a single step." Lao Tzu

[MineralMan]

9. Unfortunately, sometimes that step lands

on a venomous snake and you die.

"Look carefully at your path before beginning your journey." -Mai Fadhar

[redqueen]

18. Excellent. (nt)

[JoePhilly]

10. Or ... maybe Chris should create 3rdPartyUnderground.com ...

Then, all of those who want a 3rd party could find a productive use of their time.

It would give them a place to discuss and build up all of the awesome 3rd party candidates they want.

[Iggo]

11. Not yet, and I'm not holding my breath.

Even so, the wall came down, Jordan and Israel declared peace, and we elected a black man President of the United States (and if it hadn't been him, we'd've elected the first woman Pres).

[woo me with science]

12. Perfection is not the point, and it's a silly bar to use.

The point isn't that there is some perfect third party out there. The point is that the party that used to represent us, very often doesn't anymore. Most third party voters at this point are protest votes more than anything else. I made the point before that probably much of Ron Paul's surge is not made up of people who embrace libertarianism at all. They are former major party voters who are fed up with being ignored by the parties that used to represent them.

Voting third party is not the only way to send a message, but it is certainly one way. Here's another important line from the article:

"Our efforts must be directed toward acts of civil disobedience, to chipping away, through nonviolent protest at the pillars of established, corporate power."

I am guessing that many here will vote Dem, but they will invest their greatest energy, time, and financial support in Occupy, because that is where they see an effort toward real change.

[Sheepshank]

13. Of course it's a silly bar...

...so why is it being applied to Obama ad nauseum?

ETA...for clarification:
To request and state issues that need correcting is one thing, but to promote the desire for a party that either doesn't exist or has just as many faults with the pretence that this option will fix the original problem is exactly the silly bar you are talking about.

[woo me with science]

14. Oh please.

Here we go again. Perfection and ponies.

It is a sad day on DU when Democrats who are deeply offended by policies like indefinite detention, settlements for corrupt banks, increase of the surveillance state, expansion of the MIC into new countries, and Republican-style trade and budget policies are scorned as merely "demanding perfection."

Committed Democrats care about these issues and always have. It is a duty of all citizens to push our elected representatives to do better. The calls to shut up about these things grow very old and tiresome.

You have a good day, Sheepshank.

[TheWraith]

16. When you make up complaints, spin away accomplishments, then gripe that you're not getting your way

Then yes, you are going to be rightfully called out for expecting perfection. Particularly when you blame the POTUS for not doing things he legally cannot do, like overriding Congress by fiat.