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Political Bigotry (Or, Why Would You Ever Vote Third Party?)

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An article posted by Linda Milazzo and headlined on OpEdNews suggested that if you vote third party in this election you will “help elect McCain and Palin, and thereby re-empower the self-righteous ideologues who berated progressives, liberals, democrats, greens, libertarians, etc., for the past 8 years while their leaders were on board.”

Milazzo suggests that those who will vote third party will “empower” McCain, the Republican Party, and its supporters who are “vicious right wing zealots and fanatics.”

Milazzo cites the fact that “Republicans are dirty tricking every second so Obama will lose” as reason why supporters of third party candidates should fold.

The article ends with this point, “John McCain and Sarah Palin are a danger to our nation. Electing them would be a travesty. The only way to ensure their loss is to vote for Obama in record numbers.”

This isn’t the first posting to be headlined that goes after those who are voting third party in this presidential election. Other articles which became popular like this one have been posted.

The comments on Milazzo's article show that there is a group of OpEdNews supporters who are principled in their idealism and most likely principled in their journalism. One could suggest that they provide many of the articles you read which raise questions about McCain and Obama rather than focusing on McCain and letting Obama off the hook.

Not all Obama supporters here have been 100% supportive of Obama, but Obama supporters have been cautions when discussing Obama’s faults. Supporters have gone along with his run for the White House never admitting that pros might not outweigh the cons.

If they did admit that there were fewer pros than cons, a transition to combining coverage of the candidates along with how third party candidates could break through barriers put up by the two most prominent parties was never considered by these supporters. Supporters instead clung to the fact that once he is elected the possibility for change will present itself and that is when we go to work to correct the cons that have manifested themselves through Obama’s campaign.

OpEdNews has, unfortunately, been a textbook example of other progressive news sites where “liberal” and “progressive” writers write under the assumption that they must support Democrats because Democrats are “liberal” and “progressive.” Few write with a “liberal” or “progressive” leaning aimed at raising the conscience of the American public and enabling truly liberal or progressive leaders to run for office and take action while in office effectively.

Just consider the fact that the Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) sold themselves out by endorsing Obama in January 2008. PDA gave up on Dennis Kucinich and John Edwards. Their endorsement included a phrase that read Obama “has not always been a progressive.” They could have waited but instead chose to sell out.

This brouhaha about not voting third party that is flaring up is ignited under the guise that those against voting third party support third parties but not in this election and had third parties been organizing since 2005, they would have supported a third party candidate maybe and they respect what third party candidates are doing and in safe states it’s okay to vote for them but in battleground states it’s an extreme disservice to this nation and you are no saint if you vote third party and if you vote third party you suffer from a psychosis because no third party candidate can win.

No writer/editor/publisher will admit that this support is artificially created so that they can comment and engage in discussion.

It must be asked of people eschewing third party voters---What did you do since 2005 to make sure you and other Americans wouldn’t have to hold their nose and vote in this election?

Why do they seem to think that we the devout must do the footwork and the organizing and put all the time and effort into restructuring democracy so the power might be shifted from the few to the many?

Why do they seem to indicate that if we fail in our endeavors than it’s too bad and we should try again in the next presidential election?

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Kevin Gosztola is managing editor of Shadowproof Press. He also produces and co-hosts the weekly podcast, "Unauthorized Disclosure." He was an editor for OpEdNews.com
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