I guess it’s not an non-partisan crop circle.

Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul– Edward Abbey

I’m sorry you lack confidence. I do not. Happy Voting!

As opposed to using crop circle design software… and of course even as I sarcastically type that, I realize that there are probably six different versions for Linux alone. Snark withdrawn!

No. As I said, I live in Texas. Though an activist, I have never been a member of a political party. If you would have bothered to look at my history here, you would see that I post on a wide spectrum of topics, not just political ones, and that I have been fairly critical of the Dems over time, especially in regards to the FISA Bill.

To say they are “equally responsible for not stopping all the bad that has transpired in the last 8 years” is going too far. I would have thought you would have been better informed. You are saying this of Dennis Kucinich. Of Chris Dodd. People who have gone to the wall to try to fight within the system for your diminishing freedoms. I agree the Dems on the whole don’t seem to have done as much in opposition as I would have liked. I am not turning a blind eye to the cowardice and collusion that put so many signatures on the Patriot Act and the votes for appropriating funds to invade Iraq, etc. but Joe Lieberman is one of the only Dems (now former-) I would ascribe to equal responsibility (since he has voted in lockstep with bush’s goals.) Conjecture is what you would seem to be using to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

But now that you know a little more about me and my leanings, I don’t expect that you will change your position. I thought I would give you the respect of providing a little more of a thorough examination of the possibility of voting third party this year rather than parroting the usual: “It’s throwing away / wasting your vote” because I know how it feels to be on the receiving end of such rhetoric. As I said, I truly empathize, and were we at the same point we were 8 years ago instead of precariously hanging off the edge of a cliff, I would vote 3rd party again. But we can’t turn back the clock; and when one is dangling, one cannot be so choosy about which hand is offered in rescue. I’ll take anyone who is not stomping on my fingers like the Republicans are, thank you very much.

As Uncle Max pointed out, you would seem to have personal reasons for your vehement dislike of Dems, and that is a shame. I put it to you, however, that if you are going to be this petty about your own slighting, it is probably a good thing that you were not elected to office. Were you in power, it would seem you would wield it no more responsibly than the Sarah Palins of the world.

(How’s that for conjecture? It stings to get lumped in with such spitefulness, doesn’t it? I hope the point is not lost on you.)

I, too saw “suicide”.
Nice one, Farmer Irons.

Since we are talking about 3rd parties and the division of the political field in this country, let me share my recent voting experiences with you, if I may.

I voted mostly Green in 2000 after watching the debates and finding bush and Gore agreeing on all but two out of ~27 points. Lieberman had always been too much of a Republocrat, even then, for my tastes, also. My vote became my first protest against the two-party system.

I should add that my state (Texas) was not even close to a being a swing state (where is Texas Swing when you need it?) and I “swapped votes” with someone from Florida who wanted to vote Green but knew it might cost the Dems the election (so they voted for Gore.) We were just shooting for the crucial 5% that would allow all kinds of benefits to ensue. Turns out the fix was in anyway (though people still like to fling poo at the Greens to this day over that, which makes Republicans very happy.)

I understand the need for more viable parties to exist in order for us to come closer to a true democratic republic and I truly support all the Green causes I can, but I can’t vote Green in any close race where a Dem needs my vote right now.

Since 2000 it has been a whole new ball of wax, in that both terms have shown bushco to be the greatest threat to this country and the Constitution since the Civil War. We progressives have had to learn to be patient and to pick our battles. This is not the time to diminish the only chance we have to lawfully remove this unimpeachable regime, if we can manage to have a fair or at least more fair election.

Those who are pledged to vote for a 3rd party say the candidates of the two parties are all the same. Though I would agree that the true left is largely unrepresented (we have right and far right) I would also say that there is plenty of distinction between the two, especially with the nominees as they stand. Somebody above in the thread mentioned betting. Only one party is still pushing an agenda of privatizing social security. As David Cross has observed, that would be like taking all of our possible funding for the future; all our hopes and dreams for America, and betting it all on Papa’s Mustache in the 3rd.

Kerry was a Skull & Bones man. I never felt good about Edwards as a person, but I voted for them, and I still wish they hadn’t had their election stolen from them as well. The country might have been able to stop some of the hemorrhaging by now. Certainly Katrina would have gone down differently, in respect to the government’s response (or lack thereof.)

Though never my first pick, I thought Hillary would have made a stronger VP nom, and the Dems are treading water for not choosing her. Rove is a master chessman, not some stupid ham-fisted McCarthy (who btw, came back as the 3-headed hydra of Coulter, O’Reilly, & Hannity.) The Republicans do not choose their candidates to govern. They choose them simply on their ability to win elections. Their parts are largely dictated to them. Given that conservatives own most of the media, they get to control the issues, the battlegrounds, and a lot of the mainstream public perception.

I know the arguments: “If not now, when?” being chief among them, to which I say: When this latest bunch of Robber Barons have been disgraced and toppled from power. When we have restored the Constitution and the Rule of Law, and our Democratic Republic has been put back on it’s axis. When we have ended this mad crusade in the middle east chewing up so many humans and human resources for the benefit of so few. Now is the time to unite the tribes to defeat Sauron. -Then will be the time to diverge to the left a little more. It is simply not the right time to splinter.

Thanks for reading this.

I’m sorry your confidence is sorely misplaced. But I agree, Happy Voting to all!

Seriously I hate it when people use U instead of YOU, but seeing it in a weldesigned crop circle is just horrible.

http://www.richardsonfarm.com/corn-maze.asp

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=720138

Really? Right now? Of any election in the past several decades, this time it really IS throwing your vote away to not vote Republican or Democrat. I agree that we need a viable 3rd party (or 4th or 5th party) in this country, but no, this year is not your year. So yeah, if you want to feel morally superior, and you want to lash out because you PERSONALLY feel slighted, then go for it. But that will be a very lonely voting booth.

Also, I find it hard to believe that you give Democrats an equal share of the blame for the past 8 years, when they’ve only had any kind of a majority for the last 2. I agree they’re not blameless, but really? They’re just as bad as the previous 6 years of fucking up the country?

You posted a link to a video promoting a political party.

Do you work for the Arkansas Democratic Party? Good try. Now is the time. The Democrats in Congress are equally responsible for not stopping all the bad that has transpired in the last 8 years. They have forgotten conjecture.