Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently made headlines for calling perennial Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein “predatory” and “not serious.” AOC is right.

Giving voters more choices is a good thing for democracy. But third-party politics isn’t performance art. It’s hard work — which Stein is not doing. As AOC observed: “[When] all you do is show up once every four years to speak to people who are justifiably pissed off, but you’re just showing up once every four years to do that, you’re not serious.”

To be clear: AOC was not critiquing third parties as a whole, or the idea that we need more choices in our democracy. In fact, AOC specifically cited the Working Families Party as an example of an effective third party. The organization I lead, MoveOn, supports their 365-day-a-year efforts to build power for a pro-voter, multi-party system. And I understand third parties’ power to activate voters hungry for alternatives: I myself volunteered for Ralph Nader in 2000, and that experience helped shape my lifelong commitment to people-first politics.


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  • Sam_Bass@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    One thing i have come to realize about most politically active people is that facts dont matter enough to affect a vote.

    • Cataphract@lemmy.ml
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      2 months ago

      Is this just 3rd party ad-lib hate? General voters hate? or Jill stein enthusiasts hate? Just seems like the most generic bot comment for upvotes without actually saying anything.

        • Cataphract@lemmy.ml
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          2 months ago

          Ahh, reddit exposure is showing lol, guess that’s why it sounded so familiar. Anyone I know outside of internet caves seems to be reasonable and receptive, idk if I consider being active on a forum as “politically active”. Idk, maybe a different term like political gooning when you’re just online spreading the same message everyone else heard 100 times.

      • mightyfoolish@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        It’s not third party hate, it’s more like love for their first party. They see competition as a potential loss for their favorite party.