Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently made headlines for calling perennial Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein “predatory” and “not serious.” AOC is right.

Giving voters more choices is a good thing for democracy. But third-party politics isn’t performance art. It’s hard work — which Stein is not doing. As AOC observed: “[When] all you do is show up once every four years to speak to people who are justifiably pissed off, but you’re just showing up once every four years to do that, you’re not serious.”

To be clear: AOC was not critiquing third parties as a whole, or the idea that we need more choices in our democracy. In fact, AOC specifically cited the Working Families Party as an example of an effective third party. The organization I lead, MoveOn, supports their 365-day-a-year efforts to build power for a pro-voter, multi-party system. And I understand third parties’ power to activate voters hungry for alternatives: I myself volunteered for Ralph Nader in 2000, and that experience helped shape my lifelong commitment to people-first politics.


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  • @Olgratin_Magmatoe
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    122 months ago

    This is a slice of the electorate that the dems haven’t won over yet, but could.

    If we’re just repeating things, then I guess that’s what we’re doing.

    The spoiler effect is based on geometric proximity, not the quality of policy.

      • @Olgratin_Magmatoe
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        2 months ago

        Yes, which is why I included the qualifier “quality” to my statement.

    • @[email protected]
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      -12 months ago

      You seem to be saying that the voters are irrational. That may or not be the case, but it’s largely irrelevant to converting them.

      • @Olgratin_Magmatoe
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        52 months ago

        You seem to be saying that the voters are irrational.

        Some are, some aren’t. Either way, saying “just have better policy” is ignorant at best.

          • @Olgratin_Magmatoe
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            22 months ago

            That’s not what I am saying though.

            If we want to actually change the DNC for the better, that means voting in their primaries and especially at the local level with a heavy preference (not seeking perfection) for truly leftist candidates.

            The DNC needs to be taken over. Nagging will never do anything.

            • @[email protected]
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              02 months ago

              We’ve been trying that for decades, buddy. Dissatisfaction with the dems is not “seeking perfection”, “nagging”, or any other patronizing mischaracterization you wish to paint it as.

              • @Olgratin_Magmatoe
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                22 months ago

                If you’ve been trying to take over the DNC for decades, how you’re doing that could use some work.