“One of the problems of the two party system is what Margaret Thatcher used to call ‘Tina’ – there is no alternative,” he said, referring to a phrase the former British prime minister used to defend her government’s stringent economic policies in the early 1980s.
“The Democratic party has this crypto-fascist element when it comes to mass incarceration, when it comes to dropping bombs … when it comes to surveillance, when it comes to violation of individual liberties vis-a-vis the national security state.”
I mean, he has a point. However, I don’t know that acknowledging the flaws in a two-party system, then running in such a way that’ll likely invoke those very same flaws is a winning strategy.
It seems to me like someone in his shoes would be more effective running for congress / rallying people around reworking our current first-past-the-post voting system & electoral college.
Anyone who votes for him instead of Biden is a fucking moron who wants Trump in the white house again, whether they admit it or not.
I doubt anyone who votes for him would have ever voted for Biden and didn’t vote for him in 2020 either, so they’re basically a non-factor.
These are people who vote third party every time.
I think that’s the candidate’s point. There are voters who sit out elections because they have no interest in the two major party candidates. Biden is a centrist who assumes progressive voters will show up because they are afraid of Trump.
I don’t agree with Dr. West on most issues, but I don’t have a problem with anyone running to force a candidate to take positions on the issues they care about. It’s Biden’s race to lose.
Biden is a centrist who assumes progressive voters will show up because they are afraid of Trump.
Keeping Trump and Trumpies out of office is protecting the country from a literal no-kidding fascist dictatorship. Their plans are very explicitly stated, to criminalize opposition, free the Jan 6 traitors, and put Oath Breakers and other brownshirts on your streets.
I agree with you, and will again vote for Joe Biden regardless. That doesn’t make what I said untrue.
Yeah, but if they sit out elections anyway, what does it matter if they vote for Cornel West instead? It doesn’t take a vote from Biden because they don’t vote anyway.
It matters if the number of West voters exceeds the margin of victoy. It means a more inspiring candidate could capture those voters and win.
With Trump, there isn’t very much middle ground to capture. Voters know who he is, and either drink the kool aid or recognize the danger. Biden can’t give a speech or support an agenda that will convince a Trump supporter to vote for Biden. Likewise, Biden supporters won’t be convinced to suddenly vote for Trump under any circumstances. But the non-voters, the third party voters, they can be motivated to support Biden. Biden would just have to reach out and do something motivational.
I don’t know a single person who has admitted they will vote for Cornel West, so I cannot speak to their mindset. But if he does have supporters, if he does motivate people to come out of the woodwork, and if he challenges Biden to take more progressive stances to win those voters, if he drops out and endorses Biden, then he’ll have a positive impact on the race.
Yeah, but if they sit out elections anyway, what does it matter if they vote for Cornel West instead?
They give centrists someone to blame.
The damn leftists just won’t get in line!
RANKED. CHOICE. VOTING.
He shook Bernie’s hand, he should know better.
I honestly want to know what his angle is. What does wooing alienated non-voters achieve?
Also, if you’re going to compare someone to a spoiler like Nader, there’s RFK, Jr. who is actually polling in the very low double digits.
It’s compelling (in theory) because there are more people that don’t vote than do.
I know the man is smart, but how is he also so dumb about how our politics has become so broken? Surely he understands that his candidacy will only harm his stated goals until we pass electoral reform so third parties can’t act as spoilers.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
If Cornel West is worried about being a spoiler whose candidacy might let Donald Trump back into the White House by stealing votes from President Joe Biden, he isn’t showing it.
At a fundraising event in Busboys and Poets, a leftwing bookshop and restaurant in Washington, West – a veteran activist of myriad causes – insisted he seeks the sympathies of neither cohort, but is instead trying to woo alienated, hardened non-voters.
With Trump buoyant in many polls, some have likened West’s presence to that of the longtime activist Ralph Nader in 2000, who was widely believed to have persuaded wavering voters to switch to him from Al Gore in the key battleground of Florida, tipping the state and thus the election to George W Bush.
Addressing an audience of committed supporters, West – who campaigned against Trump’s presidency when he was in office and advocated voting for Biden in 2020, railed against the rigid two-party US political system and adopted a “plague on both your houses” posture to the Democrats and Republicans.
“One of the problems of the two party system is what Margaret Thatcher used to call ‘Tina’ – there is no alternative,” he said, referring to a phrase the former British prime minister used to defend her government’s stringent economic policies in the early 1980s.
“The Democratic party has this crypto-fascist element when it comes to mass incarceration, when it comes to dropping bombs … when it comes to surveillance, when it comes to violation of individual liberties vis-a-vis the national security state.”
The original article contains 767 words, the summary contains 256 words. Saved 67%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
LOL Cornel, you won’t even get past the primaries.
Cornell West is an antisemitic piece of garbage, and due to this scam of a presidential campaign, his idiocy has become plain to tens of millions who otherwise would have thought him an African American intellectual, lol
