• commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    8 months ago

    Even the longest serving Independent in congressional history caucuses and ran as a Democrat.

    so? that doesn’t prove that so-called third parties are impotent. it shows that one person made some questionable decisions.

    • lennybird@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      “Questionable decisions,” said the individual who had to dig back 100 years to find an example of any tangible progress made by such a 3rd-party…?

      I think I’ll go with the party that actually has a track-record of progress this half-century.

        • lennybird@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Clear, substantive tangible records speaks nothing to the issue at hand that is discussing whether third-parties actually do anything…?

          Huh?

          • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            8 months ago

            https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/comment/9218081

            you will see that the issue is the provability of whether so-called third parties can achieve anything, and whether it’s provable that voting for them has supported a “greater evil”. i have demonstrated the success of so-called third parties, and its prima facie impossible to prove a counterfactual.

            • lennybird@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              I have proved both of these things. Both With Nader and Perot, as well as showing the difference in actual progressive advancements between third-parties in Democrats is so great that there is little point in supporting a third-party — especially when the FPTP system mathematically goes against them.

              But any time you want to make a bet a 3rd-party candidate winning versus one of the two primary parties, I’ll happily take that bet on money.

              • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                8 months ago

                any time you want to make a bet a 3rd-party candidate winning versus one of the two primary parties

                this is a red herring and doesn’t address the substance of our disagreement at all

                • lennybird@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  It’s not really a red-herring; it’s simply putting money where your mouth is.

                  It’s putting weight behind your words, and it proves my point.

              • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                8 months ago

                I have proved both of these things.

                you literally cannot prove a counterfactual, so claiming you have reeks of intellectual dishonesty

                • lennybird@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  It’s a fact that 3rd-party lose universally all of their elections while often spoiling elections for the primary party that most-closely shares their interests. This is not a counter-factual; this is not Ad Ignorantiam.

                  • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                    8 months ago

                    It’s a fact that 3rd-party lose universally all of their elections while often spoiling elections for the primary party that most-closely shares their interests.

                    no it’s not. only a single counterexample is necessary to disprove this. but that’s not even what’s at issue here. what’s at issue is what the greater evil would have been. we cannot know what the losers of elections would have done had they won.