[WS:] Exactly. But of all many social movements in the US, none formed a new party - all got absorbed to either of the two parties. Ever wondered why?
These were smart, political savvy people - they knew what they were doing - so they must have seen the futility of forming a third party even if they had large numbers of political supporters, and instead they chose to bet their chances of being junior partners in the established parties.
The answer is quite obvious - the electoral system that provides no room for minority parties.
wojtek
On Fri, Jun 17, 2011 at 9:21 AM, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>
> On Jun 17, 2011, at 9:16 AM, Wojtek S wrote:
>
>> Doug: "Though they haven't won, they've changed the discourse - from
>> Debs to Perot."
>>
>> [WS:] The only raison d'etre of political parties is to get elected,
>> not to change the discourse. Changing the discourse is the job of
>> social movements.
>
> If a social movement wants to take the form of a political party, why not?
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