Stop trying to win national elections if you won't hit the streets to win local ones.
I'm not trying to win anything, I'm simply asking for more options.
No, there wouldn't be. If people won't put the time into their local candidates. No one will know about Random 3rd Party candidate X. There will be no more nuance because no one is doing the work.
Yes, they would, because random 3rd (or 4th or 5th or 6th) is running for the highest office in the country. Most people who vote for the president have no idea who their local officials are. It's foolish, but it's how it works. Of course most people are going to be enamored by presidential candidates rather than their local mayor.
Stop trying to win national elections if you won't hit the streets to win local ones. AGain and again - I talk about the importance of campaigning for local canddiates who have the "nuance" you keep talking about. And again and again, you keep talking about Presidential and national level politics. If you ignore the foundation, you will never get what you want.
That is why 3rd parties fail. Not an absence of nuance. An absence of effort.
I agree that local politics are important to your local community. Many people don't care about their local communities as long as the streets are paved, the schools are open, and their taxes aren't outrageous. Issues like climate change, globalization, fracking, etc are national level politics and they are the ones that have the broadest impact on the entire world. I live in a town of 2,000 people - how much local politics would you like me to digest?
IMO, 3rd (and further parties) do not have the financial or political backing to win anything with the way the system is set up. The system is designed to take even people like Bernie Sanders and make them run as a Democrat or a Republican. Hell, Trump had to run as a Republican and he's the furthest thing from a conservative.
That's a lie. And I say it from experience.
I ran a campaign and I know plenty of other people who did the same. We didn't require money from giant corporations. We required money from people inside our voting region. That means knocking on doors and, frankly, begging. But if you won't give me money and you won't help me raise money - how am I supposed to run my campaign? Get the press coverage and the attention it requires to win?
I understand what you're saying on a local level. I'm more focused on having multiple parties in national elections, where donor money, lobbying organizations, and business interest pick the two people we get to vote for. That is one more person than a dictatorship. That is way too few choices.
Stop passing the buck. Ask yourself a very simply set of questions: When was the last time I wne to a local party meeting, saw and spoke to the candidates for my local electtions and then beat the street to generate support for the ones who shared my values?
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How often do I complain about my national level politician while ignoring all of the important elections that actually affect my community.
Almost never. I was active duty for most of my post-college life and now I live in a town of 2,000 people. Local politics are pretty much nonexistent here. I also don't think I need to be invested in local issues to be upset about having no real voice in national issues.
If you want to talk national elections, I have some experience with how sleazy that world is. I briefly worked for the NFIB after college, and holy shit, the number of Republicans in congress that are forced to vote a certain way on every issue or lose NFIB backing money...it's really disheartening.