explains a lot of hostility to RCV bc it facilitates bottom-up coalition building; but should not discount the bevy of statutes and case law (and even some state constitutional provisions!) that explicitly empower Rs and Ds above third parties by name
Yep, my statement about power being through conduct of elections definitely applies to things like FPTP voting. Party apparatuses are too weak to control member beliefs but election rules do self-preserve the 2 parties from 3rd party competition. At the same time ....
..party weakness also makes it difficult for 3rd parties to have a coherent disciplined message that appeals to the disaffected and makes them subject to marginalization by opportunists. Buchanan-Reform in '00. Stein-Greens in '20/24. Libertarians quickly wasted all the momentum they gained in '16.
what's next, a license to make toast in my own toaster? jokes aside, absolutely agree about that social dynamic - but technical ballot access can be just as difficult in some states that prohibit write-ins/require massive petitions/operate self-perpetuating last-election-minimum-vote requirements
Third party complaints about ballot access have always been excuse making for being incredibly unpopular and/or lazy. We know this because there are states with even playing field for access and they’re complete non-entities who do no better
I was talking about election and government systems but thank you for doing your job as a Democratic Party campaign hack correctly by declaring people who might consider voting for your bosses are lazy
exhibit a: bsky.app/profile/back...