#WalkAway

[hollodero]

(07-04-2018, 08:49 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: Maine has a terrible governor.

Read up on the guy... you're not exaggerating. What a person.
Also, thanks for explaining.

(07-04-2018, 08:49 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: I completely agree. Right now, we have two political parties that only have the mission of injecting money into races and winning.

Well... I don't know if I can blame them. They can either do that or not inject money and lose.
The rules are the problem; and from what I know, one party is way more determined to keep said rules untouched.

(07-04-2018, 08:49 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: They have no real ideological stance. They aren't concerned about the good of the country.

I don't know if I would go that far. There are differences, e.g. environmental protection/climate change, ACA, abortion, LGBT rights etc.

(07-04-2018, 08:49 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: We need a system like what exists in some European countries where there are more parties, that have actual platforms that give their members direction. I'm not saying the systems in your area are perfect by any means, but they have proven to be effective at many of the things that our two-party system has failed at.

Not perfect indeed, which actually is a nice way to put it. There's certain advantages, a main one being it's not quite as polarizing. We have left vs. right too, but it still is more nuanced and less defining. Also, I feel like I could vote a party closer to my interests then I could in the US. Which plays its part, I guess, in our higher democracy participation rate. That half of Americans don't vote, even though your politics is way more impactful than the petty subjects our parties can deal with, is quite alarming to me.

As a disadvantage, you can vote for a party that might then form a government with some other party you could not stand. There are many other problems, but I'm actually sure you know about them already, so no need to lose thousands words over it.

Overall however, the US political landscape looks grim. A conservative Austrian (or European) would never start defending objectively horrible guys like Trump or LePage. We have other parties for those folks, and that's good.