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"There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution."- John Adams, 2nd President of the United States
"Third parties are very effective vehicles for forcing issues that neither party wants to address because of their controversy. They are very influential as incubators of ideas.'' -- Prof. Jeffrey Sedgwick, University of Massachusetts-Amherst in The Boston Herald, Sept. 17, 2000
** "It was third parties who FIRST introduced ideas like restricting slavery, granting suffrage to women, establishing minimum wages and controlling child labor... The difficulty of getting on the ballot state-by-state is surely a barrier deliberately erected by the major parties to keep third parties out of the field of play." ~ American University Professor Allan Lichtman on The Jim Lehrer Newshour, Oct. 22, 1996
"The irony is that no leading political scientist who studies political party systems believes that it is necessary to squelch minor parties in order to 'defend' the two-party system. The true definition of 'two-party system' is a system in which two particular parties are much bigger than all the others; it doesn't mean a system in which minor parties have atrophied into non-existence. The last leading political scientist who believed that it is socially useful to squelch minor parties was Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia, but he changed his mind over five years ago, and now advocates that election laws treat minor parties equitably." -- Richard Winger, Ballot Access News December 12, 1996
"...when the variety and number of political parties increases, the chance for oppression, factionalism, and nonskeptical acceptance of ideas decreases." -- James Madison
"A sect or party is an elegant incognito devised to save a man from the vexation of thinking." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the
creed of any
party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics
or in anything
else, where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an
addiction is
the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not
go to Heaven
but with a party, I would not go there at all." -- Thomas
Jefferson in
a letter to Francis Hopkinson, Paris, Mar. 13,
1789
"If parties in a republic are necessary to secure a degree of
vigilance
sufficient to keep the public functionaries within the bounds
of law and
duty, at that point their usefulness ends. Beyond that they
become destructive
of public virtue, the parent of a spirit antagonist to that of
liberty,
and eventually its inevitable conqueror." -- William
Henry Harrison, Inaugural, March 4, 1841
"Look at the tyranny of party--at what is called party allegiance, party loyalty--a snare invented by designing men for selfish purposes--and which turns voters into chattles, slaves, rabbits..." -- The Character of Man, Mark Twain's Autobiography"
"Joining a political party is like joining a gang." -- Chris Rock
"If mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind." -- John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
"Not voting is just as bad as voting for evil men because it allows evil to succeed by default. Take a stand with people who support what you really support. Stop cowering and merely complaining about America's pending demise and act in such a way as to truly make a difference." -- Tom Ambrose
"In your entire lifetime, you will probably never vote in an election where your one vote decides the outcome. So why bother to vote at all? The correct answer to that question, the purpose you should have in mind when you enter the voting booth, is: 'my vote can make a difference because it tells incumbent politicians what I believe is right'. My vote simply says, 'this is the direction I want the country, state or community to take.' That's it." -- Richard Boddie
"If your one vote is like one drop of fertilizer in an eye
dropper,
and you had to choose between giving it to a small but
vigorous tree seedling
and an ancient, rotting (but huge!) old oak tree, WHICH ONE IS
YOUR DROP
GOING TO HAVE THE GREATER IMPACT ON? And how much greater
would the relative
impact be? Especially when you consider all the restrictive,
unequal ballot-access
laws which CAN make any one vote crucial to future ballot
access for a
third party. Don't you think those people who can and do THINK
LONG-TERM
should be the ones most encouraged to (and able to) vote?" --
from
http://FreedomKeys.com/myvccount.htm
For a really thorough demolition of "conventional wisdom" about casting votes for 3rd-party candidates be sure to visit: The Politics of Sheep at <http://FreedomKeys.com/myvcwaste.htm>.
Just in case you can't find your eyeglasses, here's an easier-to-read version of this page.
"Repression is the seed of revolution." -- Daniel Webster
"Thought that is silenced is always rebellious. Majorities, of course, are often mistaken. This is why the silencing of minorities is necessarily dangerous. Criticism and dissent are the indispensable antidote to major delusions." -- Alan Barth
"If we make peaceful revolution impossible, we make violent revolution inevitable." - John F. Kennedy
Also see: Price-Fixing, Collusion and Restraint of Trade in Ideas, and Monopoly Politics
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