[GPSCC-chat] Fwd: Prop 14 (Top Two) forum in Santa Clara onTuesday, March 23 AM

[Eric A. Meece]

I'm dissappointed that they were able to get this on the ballot. It 
effectively shuts out the Greens and other alternative parties from 
elections.
What a travesty. I hope the people vote for democracy and not duopoly. This 
is the kind of thing that is driving a great share of the electorate to 
become independent and move away from the Republicrats and the Demoplicans.
Eric Meece

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tian Harter" <tnharter at aceweb.com>
To: "GPSCC" <sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org>
Sent: Monday, March 22, 2010 2:00 AM
Subject: Re: [GPSCC-chat] Fwd: Prop 14 (Top Two) forum in Santa Clara 
onTuesday, March 23 AM


To my way of thinking, the reason you run as a third party candidate
is that you have some burning message you want to see make a difference.

When you run a top two thing, every candidate but two gets silenced
after the primary. You can forget about the long summer of campaigning.
You can forget about two minutes of fame in October. And what is the
point of running if they are going to ignore you until you lose the
primary and then forget you all together?

I say any Party nomination should mean something, even if all it's good
for is saying "I'm on your fall ballot because I want ___________ to
change." I've seen that kind of thing make a HUGE difference.

Tian

spencerg wrote:
>       Why is this obviously bad for third parties?
>
>
>       What evidence is available on this?
>
>
>       The only evidence I see is the comparison with parliamentary
> systems that go to a second round between the two candidates getting the
> most votes if no candidate gets a majority.  Don't third parties do
> better in such systems than in ours?
>
>
>       Logic is a very poor tool for evaluating anything unless there is
> a substantial empirical basis to show that the premises are valid.
> Otherwise, seemingly great sounding but fallacious premises lead to
> erroneous conclusions.  That's why I ask for evidence.
>
>
>       Spencer Graves
>
>
> On 3/21/2010 5:28 PM, Jim Stauffer wrote:
>>
>>
>> The Santa Clara, California, Chamber of Commerce will hold a forum on
>> Proposition 14 on Tuesday, March 23, at 8:00 a.m.
>>
>> Speaking in favor of Proposition 14 will be Brian Brennan of the Silicon
>> Valley Leadership Group.
>>
>> Speaking against will be Christina Tobin, founder of Free & Equal.
>>
>> The event is at 1850 Warburton Avenue, Santa Clara.
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>> Prop 14 is a myopic dissaster that will prevent all minor parties from
>> participating in the General Election.
>>
>> At the March 2010 General Assembly, the Green Party easily reached
>> consensus on opposing Proposition 14. If adopted, all candidates for
>> partisan office would be required to run in a single, combined Primary
>> Election rather than each party having it’s own Primary. Voters may
>> vote for any party’s candidate, and only the two highest voted
>> candidates would proceed to the General Election. No longer would each
>> party be represented in the General. In fact, the two candidates in
>> the General could be from the same party.
>>
>> They'll be more info about organizing against Prop 14 coming out shortly.
>>
>> Jim
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> sosfbay-discuss mailing list
>> sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org
>> http://lists.cagreens.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sosfbay-discuss

-- 
Tian
http://tian.greens.org
Latest addition: Pictures and words about the Green Party of California.
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