• rational_lib@lemmy.world
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    19 hours ago

    The best solution to the two parties excluding the left isn’t a third party, it’s for the left to register as Republicans and conduct a hostile takeover of the GOP in the primaries.

    This can easily succeed in blue states/cities to start out.

    • pjwestin@lemmy.world
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      17 hours ago

      I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. The Democrats are very good at controlling the outcomes of their primaries, but the Republicans don’t seem as capable. They threw everything they had at stopping Trump in 2016, came up short, and then allowed him to completely restructure the party. I wonder if it might be easier for a progressive to run in an open Republican primary in a district the broader GOP isn’t trying to compete in, then try and take out the Democrat in the general. It might be more effective than primarying Democrats directly.

    • ToucheGoodSir
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      18 hours ago

      This is why I am a registered Republican in Utah because they have closed primaries and it lets me choose the lesser evils of their candidates. I hate the Democrats in different ways, def more in some areas. They are after all the ones coopting the left while the GOP is just mask off lmao

      • Takumidesh@lemmy.world
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        17 hours ago

        Why don’t you vote in primaries that affect the person you would want to be president.

        You could be voting in a primary that actually matters to you, but instead you vote in a pointless primary for a candidate you have no intention of supporting.

        Talk about mask off…

        • ToucheGoodSir
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          17 hours ago

          That’s the way the American system works my friend. You vote for the person you hate the least. Because our system is structured in a way that has led to 60% of people who vote identifying as independent. I can vote in the actual elections for whoever I want, which is going to be an independent or democrat down the ballot. If that makes sense. Seriously spread the word it will kill the MAGAt candidates.

          • Takumidesh@lemmy.world
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            17 hours ago

            No it isn’t.

            If you vote in a candidate in the primary, you can actually get the candidate you want.

            You would need an overwhelming majority of people to switch sides, abandoning their choice of candidate, in order to do this spec ops inside job, and the result is you got a slightly less worse opponent in the election.

            Meanwhile, all the people left in the party you actually want to vote for, would no longer be ideologically similar to you and would likely nominate a candidate that you don’t like either. The end result is two candidates that you don’t want, except the one you were never going to vote for is slightly more aligned to you (but likely not by much, given that their core ideals will be different to yours)

            Think about it, if you could actually convince enough people to switch sides and nominate a less worse opponent, why wouldn’t you just have those same people nominate the candidate you all actually want?

            The whole point of the primary is to decide your candidate, trying to spoil a race for the other side just makes worse candidates all around.

            I should clarify, the people left in your actual party would not share your ideals, because if they did, they would have joined you in the mission.

            • ToucheGoodSir
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              14 hours ago

              This view doesn’t reflect the reality of the current american political landscape. If I would prefer the worst democrat candidate to the best Republican candidate at least 😂 cuz I can vote for the worst dem and still come out more represented than any republican. That and the Democrats in Utah have an open primary so I can vote in theirs too.