General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: "we want to punish the Democrats, we want to hurt them, wound them" [View all]joshcryer
(62,270 posts)I think it unquestionably makes the Dems listen to the Greens in that scenario. Politics is tit for tat. So you get a Democratic Party that has for the first time a challenge from the left that has 5% of the vote, and that party just helped your guy win by staying out of the swing states.
How do you treat that party?
Well see see that Al Gore moved far left without even being President. With that kind of pressure? I think the Party probably makes a shift. The ideas start getting heard. More Greens get represented in Congress and the Democrats would be for the first time challenged to hear more radical ideas.
I think history bore that out. Look at the influence the teabaggers have (well, had, they've managed to almost marginalize themselves now).