Reply #38: If we jump to a third party, how will things ever change?

[LoZoccolo]

I think a lot of I-don't-like-the-Democrats sentiment comes from people that want to be served up a ballot every two years, check off a box, and that's kind-of it. But participating in democracy is a lot more than that, and one way to get involved - which requires a lot more work - is to try to influence the people voting for the parties. If you want change, you'll have to pick some issues and try to get them well-known enough that the Democrats can't ignore them. Otherwise your 3% or 7% or whatever will vote on it, the whole left risks losing on a bunch of stuff outside your distinguishing issues, and things possibly get worse. Like gay and lesbian rights groups have been very successful at getting their issues more into the mainstream while being a small group within society. But a lot of other more-fringe activists like to complain about the choices they're given while they're not successful at getting their message out enough to get consensus, and that's what you have to do in a democracy. I don't think the stone-in-the-shoe strategy works, as you saw in the 2000 election.