And Two More Phenomenal Costumes

by Prince Of Petworth November 1, 2016 at 10:02 pm 13 Comments

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They were too good not to post!!

Above: “Audrey from Silver Spring as busted up Metro”

Below from NoMa/Mt. Vernon Square: “American Psycho & A Wasted Vote (note the tiny liquor bottles velcroed to the ballot- the parents of trick-or-treaters last night were super excited to tear off an adult treat for themselves!)”

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Kingman Park

It’s not a wasted vote if it’s who you truly want to vote for.
- dcd
  
  **headdesk** It’s this kind of naïve idealism that gave us President Bush. It’s great for a civics class, and has its place in a parliamentary system of government, but is utterly useless – if not detrimental – in the real world of the US political system.
  - Kingman Park
    
    It’s great that you think people using their right to vote as they choose is “utterly useless” unless it’s the candidate YOU want to win, but it’s your line of thinking that has led to our failed two party system.
    - Anonymous
      
      Actually, it’s our constitution that has lead to our “failed two party” system. First past the post leads to two parties in pretty much every plausible scenario. Change the constitution to require run-offs or ranked voting and you’ll have a lot more viable parties competing for your vote.
      Tl;dr – the U.S. constitution sucks.
    - dcd
      
      It has nothing to do with the candidate I prefer. It is utterly useless to vote for someone who has no chance of winning. Now, I’m thrilled when an ostensible republican wastes a vote on Johnson or McMullin rather than Trump, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less of a wasted vote, or a useless exercise. It’s just that I prefer my opponents to engage in useless endeavors.
      .
      I get frustration with the two party system (though to say it is a “failed” system is unsupported hyperbole), but voting for anyone other than the Clinton or Trump is wasting your vote. It changes nothing in the real world. You can go on about “using their right to vote as they choose” all you want, but as I said above, that kind of idealism is best left in civics class. By voting for any third party candidate in this* election, you are willfully abdicating your right to have a voice in the selection of the next President. Sure, “you participate in the process,” but you don’t participate in the actual selection – it’s form over substance. *There may be an election where a third party candidate actually has a chance. This ain’t it.
      .
      Elections have consequences. Lest anyone forget, but for the Nader voters in Florida in 2000 casting their protest votes (and yes, I am assuming that the majority of them, if they had to choose between Gore and Bush, would have voted for Gore), we likely wouldn’t have had a war in Iraq. Think about that – it is very likely that those third party candidate votes directly resulted in a war. Now think about who is more reasonable – President Bush or Donald Trump. Oof.
      .
      All that said, if you live in DC, vote for anyone you want. Make a statement. Knock yourself out. DC residents voting in the presidential election are a lot like that horribly misogynistic comment from As Good As It Gets: “How you describe a DC voter? I think of a [VA/PA/OH/FL] voter, and I take away reason and accountability.”
      - Zora
        
        Will agreeing to vote either D or R make you any less likely to sermonize? Because if that’s what it takes, I’d be willing to give it serious consideration.
      - dcd
        
        Not likely, no. There will always be others who could benefit from a good dose or pragmatism, on any given number of topics.
      - Cleveland Park runner
        
        Do you understand that statistically your vote for president never actually counts? Not even if you lived in Palm Beach County in 2000. Even then, you would have needed 538 votes (or whatever) to actually make the votes count.
        .
        The only wasted vote is for someone you don’t believe in. Enjoy all that sanctimony about the folly of voting for a third party candidate, but that kind of vote actually can lead to real reform. And, even better, it lets me look into the mirror and not grimace.
    - dunning-kruger
      
      Voting 3rd party in a US presidential election is the same as not voting and it is not the fault of people who don’t vote 3rd party and remind those that might that it is pointless.
      .
      It is the fault of the 3rd parties who can’t or won’t win more than a handful of seats in the house or senate but then for some reason think they can get the presidency.
      .
      What good is a green party president with virtually no loyalists in any other branch of government? Since they barely have anything in the legislative branch they haven’t even had a chance to pilot their policies locally. It’s all just completely untested, clearly that matters not to millions of voters this year but it should and it is one of many good reasons that voting 3rd party is a joke.
anon

Voting green party is NOT a wasted vote if you live in DC. We know HRC will win DC’s electoral votes with 90-ish percent of votes. Trump hasn’t a prayer here. So one is perfectly safe to vote green party as a protest vote of anti-war and left of our democratic party values, without it being a vote for Trump. Do you realize that we have an electoral college system, and don’t elect the president by popular vote? If you missed that in grade school, read up on it.

It only helps Trump if you are voting in a state where the election is close. DC is the least close you can get in this country, but virtue of being just a city and not a state, and not having hardly any republicans who vote here. I haven’t followed how close the race is in MD and VA since I vote in DC, though I do know they are both projected to go for Clinton – I just don’t know if it is at all close or not. I say vote lesser of two evils where the vote is close, but vote your values when it won’t hurt the democratic candidate at all. (Remember – electoral college!)

Sure the green party isn’t a developed party now – one can hope that in time, maybe even in my lifetime? – that it, or a similar party, which will lead us into the modern era like european social democracies with regard to social services instead of militarism as our main goals, will grow. Hopelessness idealistic, I know.
- Kingman Park
  
  Voting for the lesser of two evils means voting for Trump. Voting for competency means voting for Clinton.
  - anon
    
    Very interesting reply – I can’t say I disagree with you – I was thoughtlessly using the old phrase…
- binpetworth
  
  +1. Also, Jill Stein and for that matter Gary Johnson know they’re not going to win the presidency. But if they get 5% of the popular vote, it enables them to receive public funding, which in turn allows for building momentum over the next several decades to potentially create a viable two-party alternative.

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