Quote Originally Posted by Inconel710 View Post
Oh, I held my nose and voted for Romney (it might give me more time to prepare for the eventual hard landing), but it was Libertarian down the line after that. I was quite happy to see four Libertarian candidates for various offices here in COS.

The whining from the Republicans about Gary Johnson possibly ruining their party is what's funny. The subject didn't even come up until some Republican organization started the idea that GJ could throw the election. Considering how well the two ruling parties have setup the system to ensure they stay in power it's been quite funny to see them piss and moan about how "If you don't vote for my turd sandwich, the giant douche is going to win, wah, wah, wah".
I don't see us whining, I see us constantly (and I use the word constantly loosely) trying to impart a little logic on the whole GJ subject... Not a single 3rd party candidate has ever received 10% of the vote, but in an election that is close (let's say 3%) and the dem wins by 2%, that 3% that went to the 3rd party could have easily ensured a rep win... That's what we're saying is the case here. It wasn't that GJ could throw the election, it's that people throwing their vote into the abyss that is the 3rd (or 4th) party that has cost the election for one party or the other in the past. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see the libertarians have a shot, but it doesn't start with the president and go from there, it starts smaller... Like you said, local elections (COS- good for you guys!), state elections, congressional seats, etc.

I'm getting a little sick and tired of the same group of us who understand how the system works and how to push for a 3rd party to get some votes (like I said, local, state, congress, THEN president) incessantly repeating this over and over and over again... Do you think we're repeating it so much so we don't forget? Do you think we like saying this in 3/10 threads on the subject? No... We'd love it if you guys would think a little outside of your selfish, simplistic, eff-the-two-party-system view and see that "voting with your conscience" is most certainly not going to get rid of Obama, and that yeah, the only person who stands a snowball's chance in hell of beating Obama is Romney. It's not ideal, it's not the absolute best thing for America, but name one president in the last 16 years that has been all that "good" for America. I honestly believe we can make it some day to the point where a 3rd party can get 15-25% of the vote, and within the next 12 years, but, like has been said so many goddamn times already this year is not that year... so please, chill with it already.