42% of Americans Ditch Two-Party System, Say Government Is Biggest Problem
Submitted by Claire Bernish via TheAntiMedia.org,
More people in the United States than ever are breaking away from the political duopoly by refusing to self-identify as either Democrat or Republican — and they now effectively comprise the true silent majority: Independents.
According to a Gallup poll released Monday, for 2015, just 29% of respondents call themselves Democrats, while 26% identify as Republicans — but fully 42% say ‘nay’ to both parties and claim to be Independents, down only marginally from 43% last year. Indeed, Independents as a group reached 40% of the population for the first time in 2011, and have comprised at least that percentage since then.
Before Gallup began polling by phone in 1988, “there were several years when the average percentage of Republican identifiers … was lower than 25%.” But for Democrats, that self-identification reached a 27-year low, down from the previous year’s 30% — and because “data from 1951-1987 collected in person never found a yearly average Democratic identification less than 37%,” it is “safe to conclude that the current 29% is also the lowest in Gallup polling history.”
When pressed further, 16% of Independents admitted leaning Democratic and another 16% admitted a Republican tendency, evidencing the weight of the two-party system on voters’ feelings, as Gallup pointed out, “because in most elections, voters are asked to choose a candidate from one of the two parties.”
What could explain this virtual nadir in party identification? It’s the gub’ment, stupid.
For the second year in a row, exasperation with the government topped the U.S. populace’s list of pressing grievances in a separate Gallup poll. They named it the nation’s number one problem more often than the ubiquitous ‘economy.’ In fact, of the last 15 years, the economy was the top complaint eight times — including each of the six years prior to the government, itself, taking first place in 2014.
With party fervor inevitably headed for a crescendo with the 2016 presidential race in full swing, perhaps the lackluster red and blue loyalty evidences the precursor to a shift. Imagine the possibilities should this silently growing majority decide to cast votes outside the two-party platform. Maybe, just maybe, these Independents have begun to see the duopoly for what it is — two sides of the same tarnished coin.
(11 votes)
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Bigger is not always better.
Unfortunately, the "independents" are less likely to be libertarian, and more likely to checkmark "communist" or "socialist" (they don't understand liberal means the same thing).
Bzzt! Wrong again! Take a poltical thought and theory class or two.
'political thought'
That's an oxymoron. Time and effort would be better spent on a science, math or
engineering class or three.
"That's an oxymoron. Time and effort would be better spent on a science, math or
engineering class or three. "
Or jerking off.
At least you have something to show for it.
Have not seen any stats on this (and you obviously haven't either), but I suspect that independent voters probably split 50/50 for Right and Left. Appears to me that the "Alt-Right" is really taking off now, but I don't know of anything that mirrors that on the left (Bernie voters maybe).
I don't know. It would seem like the big gov, left wing types should be happy as clams. People that prefer smaller gov are the one's that are fucked right out of the process. That's supposed to be a plank of the red team but their record shows they're full of shit.
They wouldn't let me be a poll worker for early voting in my county because I'm an independent. What a bunch of dicks, I just wanted to make some money legally and see if any funny business was going on here in Ohio.
They wouldn't let me be a pole worker without waxing first.
In some states, you can't even get your name on a ballot without identifying yourself to one of the 'two' parties.
This system is a ruse.
IMO, candidates should be selected as juries are, then go and serve a term, and then go home.
The laws they would pass apply to them as well.
No career politicians.
Little would get done, but then that would be the purpose.
Only the truly important would rise to consideration.
Yet, come Nov of any election yr, they'll do 1 of 4 things:
1) vote demoncrap
2) vote republican
3) vote 3rd party
4) not vote
But the one thing they WILL do regardless of what they do re 1-4 above is: WHINE.
The author of that piece is as brain-dead as the dopes he is writing about.
Electile dysfunction will be running rampant.
The comments here read like a drunken version of of CNN's Crossfire.
If I ever watched anything on CNN maybe I'd agree with you. Never felt the need to waste my time on it, though.
Well, not since the Gulf War, anyway. The first one, not the second one.
Both parites put the Banking Cartel, Corporations (certain ones, such as arms dealers), Middle East Bombing, and Israel FIRST before they consider the average person. That is the reason.
They are wrong. The government is not the problem, they don't care about you or me one way or the other. The problem is that the government is a puppet for their crony revolving door bankers and corporations. They are the ones screwing you, and tricking you to blame the government. They've got you so tricked that you actually want to give the bankers and corporations even more advantages than they already have. Trickle down economics is as real as the tooth fairy.
You said it jew boy.
Trigger warning for all trumpateers and other assorted minnions of satan and lucifer aka baal or jesus
http://youtu.be/KBpft6pQClY
One of the things about complex systems, as compared to mere systems much less simple machines, is that assigning responsibility to identifiable modules or elements is often impossible, much less guilt.
I don't know how to divide responsibility for this mess between the various entities, all actually executed by human beings adhering to the expectations of their fellow human beings, a growing number of whom are criminal. Both inside government and in corporations, there seems to be an increasing proportion of people who must be increasingly openly criminal, or we wouldn't hear about it.
Which side of the rapidly-revolving-door do we assign the blame for legislation and implementation and adjustment by everyone? Or that the evolutionary system continues to adjust to the conditions it creates, interating through the cycles?
Hang them all.
One could quit going to vote ... with say 5% of the voters showing up, SOMETHING must be dawning in those Washington blockheads. No?
BECAUSE ITS FUCKING TRUE! At least a few arent that stupid. 42% and growing daily.
Holy shit! Now we might be getting somewhere.
While I don't expect her to win - and the POTUS has relatively little real power these days - the only current candidate with a good sense of reality and ethics is Jill Stein, of the Green party.
Federalism is the problem and always has been. It was only a matter of time before the ends manifested themselves in the form of 'government' we have today, and have had since at least the war of Northern Aggression.
True, the Founding Fuckups engineered this Federalist con game AFTER the Confederation of States had run the English out. These "Founders" were well connected, rich and wanted a political system that governed from the top down but they knew they couldn't just come out and propose that. The whole "Constitutional Convention" process was fraudulent and the end result flawed and has been a curse and blight ever since.
The two-party system exists because of Duverger's law:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duverger%27s_law
Change the congressional election system and the two-party rule will disappear.
Uh, politics laws have zero effect in this universe.
No social science is an actual "science".
Sorry.
It's a one party system called the Government Party. We need to use Trump to destroy it.
http://ejmoosa.com/blog3/2016/01/13/rally-behind-trump-and-destroy-the-g...
Trump is a puppet of the deep state. You're being duped.
Because of the two-party system, the real election is in the primary election, where the party candidates get chosen. THIS is where you can make a difference. If you let the establishment or bought-and-paid-for candidates win the primary, then it matters less who wins the general election afterwards.
The masses havnt half had some stick over the years, especially on here, but the masses also involve us, as we are, sadly, them.
But, as we can see here, the 'Sheep', just aint the 'Sheep' we thought they were. Its an old saying, but as true the day, as it was some time ago, 'You can only keep kicking a dog, before he turns right back, and bites the fuck owt of you'. What happens when a significant amount of people, like now, finally realise there can 'Be', no political answer to the problems we face? What then? I do believe, we will watch, with a wry smile, just what 'Sheep' can really be capable of.
Mark that down as significant NSA, GCHQ, you child raping protecting cunts.
We, The, Fucking, People, In-Fucking Deed.
;-)
Many upvotes, the time is indeed coming. We can't depend on anyone but us middle of the road, rational people to do this. The rest of them are crazy.
We are the Extremely Honest party. We better get extremely active or the Israeli-Neocon deep state MIC guys are going to try to take our country away from us.
They have been succeeding, you do realize?
The so-called US electoral system is a system of corrupting people's moral stand. It makes us all feel dirty when some stooge we invested our hopes in betrays us again and again. And this very feeling of disgust in part directed towards ourselves that ruling elite is after in their quest to deny possibility of our dignity and self-effacement needed to be able to raise our head from dogmatic slumber of unreal world of flat TV for the first time.
In a world of entertainment, relentlessly pushed on us, we all are treated as spectators of our lives, laughable clowns, phony celebrities “du jour” and that includes dying sick children reenacting hunger games. Gravitas and dignity of a human being is banished in this Roman wilderness of pain and ecstasy.
The fist step to regain our dignity is to step out of the surreal circus called electoral politics and elections where poli-magician's asking audience to participate in a political trick in which nobody really believes in but it garners lots of laughs or feelings of awesomeness. It's time for total boycott the farcical play pushing millions to sell their souls for illusory, individually perceived gain or fear, to submit to the power, so power would let us live.
More on Trump that plays role of destructor in charge, hired to blow the tempest that would smash hated political institutions, a regime that lost its propaganda power. And replace them with new ones as repressive and elitist as the old ones but with different names.
https://contrarianopinion.wordpress.com/notes-on-buddy-politics/
THE SLOW DEMISE OF HOPE TRADERS.
You've got to stop voting for the same people and expecting different results each and every time, that's the number one rule.
If every person voted for anybody except the red and blue teams, all countries would have a fairer Government. Even better would be to stop collective thought and abandon team voting altogether and everybody becomes an Independant for a FIXED term then your booted out. No more Career Politicians. And Party Donations should be banned, they get a Fixed state income for campaigning.
The problem with this, it has to be voted for and agreed to by the very people that are benefiting from the existing system, so it will never happen.
Now if could get that to a safe 65% for headroom and get rid of the electoral college, there might actually be significant change. However, don't expect the latter, EVER.
Here's why:
The 1992 prez election
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1992
Clinton - 43% of popular vote - 370 electoral votes
Bush - 37.5% popular vote - 168 electoral votes
Perot - 18.9% popular vote - ZERO electoral votes
The electoral college is the two party duopoly perpetuation machine.
"The electoral college is the two party duopoly perpetuation machine."
Bingo!
It doesn't matter if we have a 10 party system if they're all run by big business lobbyists . . .nuke K street
If the American people cast their vote in the four year presidential "Quaduper Bowl", they are granting consent to keep the federal government in power to continue applying the whip of abuse and servitude upon all our backs. It's that simple.
Many will justify going to the polls to choose:
1. Lesser of two evils (a fallacy everyone here knows to be untrue).
2. Party loyalty (red/blue sports club metaphor, yeah go team!)
3. Patriotic calling (more like culling, of the masses)
4. Guilt by propaganda (the media says it's our duty to vote)
5. The world needs Washington (no, it doesn't)
6. I can't live without federal entitlement (yes, you can)
7. We must have a president (a corporate controlled celebrity puppet)
8. What other choice do we have? (declare a new start)
Courage is something that just needs a little push to get things going and we all have it within our bones. We just have to act on what we know is the right thing to do to protect our rights and independence from the dark clouds of tyranny rising up over the horizon of our great land.
You know the last line in the national anthem, "... land of the free and the home of the brave?" Well I say be brave, make those words have real meaning, make them come alive again.
Don't vote on November 8, stay home and let Washington collapse. It would be the greatest non-violent event in our country's history and only in America could this happen.
Fear not the future for there is no future under despotism but there is the light of liberty that waits to shine on all of us if we just light that candle of freedom resting quietly in the corner of our minds.
If Hillary and Obama are democrats, and Ryan-O and Boehner are Republicans - who can blame the people for running from both?
http://www.independentamericanparty.org/
Principled constitutionalists!
50% of the people are directly fed by the Demo-publican machine so you can't expect them to vote against their interest.
It now comes down to those outside the system versus those inside the system. Given that those inside the system will never turn, the outsiders need to do something drastic to change the odds...
"... you can't expect them to vote against their interest."
A look at the corrupt asshats that have populated congress and the white house since before we were born suggests to me that ... Yes, they will vote against their own self interest,
You might be surprised. Those who are most dependent on The System are also the most intimately familiar with its inadequacies. Ask a welfare recipient about the Social Services System and you'll get an earful. Ask a disabled person about either Disability, Social Security, or the medical establishment, likewise. And no one knows the weaknesses of our military bureaucracy like professional military officers. Those of us who have lived inside the Deep State since childhood know ALL of its flaws, in detail, and are more than a little interested in seeing a replacement.
Of course, having said that, I have to point out that the Little Brother who spent 20 years in the Pentagon and then moved to NASA, never tires of deriding the stupidity of government . . . but hasn't held a job in the private sector since he was bussing tables at Ponderosa in high school. While having worked for both large and small private companies, I'm inclined to point out that if you want to see REAL stupidity, you need to work in the private sector for comparison. Let me just point out that there is a reason why the majority of small businesses fail.