Defeated liberal

teachingbehindenemylines

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday July 18, 2014 · 10:48 PM PDT

2014/07/18 · 22:48

I am resigned to voting for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election and, given the alternative, happy to do so. I do not want anyone to think for one second that I would vote for the Republican, throw my vote away on a third party (as long as we inexplicably cling to our 19th century constitution and it's winner takes all mandate, a third party vote is thrown away or helps conservatives win) not vote. That said, why?
In 2012 the Republican Party ran a plethora of serious, by Republican standards, extremely conservative candidates. In the end, the moderate (again by Republican standards) won. In 2008, identical. So why do ultra-conservatives run so many radicals and end up nominating (by their standards) the moderate? Palin, Santorum, Paul, Cain, Perry and they end up with McCain and then Romney.
The Democrats have progressives, and dare I say socialists, who run. The difference is that they are marginalized, by the Democrats and the base. The Republican base will fight for, raise money for and, at least early on, fight for the far right.
The result is, moderate Republicans move slightly right and win, Democrats move slightly right (for general election purposes) and win. In the end, we get a general election between a center-right Dem and a far-right Republican.
Until we get a liberal version of the TeaParty, I am resigned to defeat and our nation and planet are fucked.

RSS