Had An Interesting Conversation Late Last Night ... About The Democratic Party...

[frazzled]

141. I think you are even more confused

On two counts:

(1) First, your "principles" are based on false assumptions. It's simply utterly false that the majority of Democrats vote to give tax breaks to the wealthy. Why you would say such an unsupported thing is a mystery, but let's take a look at a few examples. First, the 2003 Bush tax cuts, which were the ones that most helped the wealthy because they reduced taxes on capital gains and dividends. How did that vote go? In the House, 99.6% of Republicans (or 224 of them) voted for these tax breaks for the wealthy (and 0.4% or 1 of them voted against). By contrast, 96.6% of Democrats (or 198 of them) voted against the tax breaks, with 3.4% (or 7 representatives) voted for. It passed essentially because Republicans had a majority in the House: those 7 Democratic votes weren't needed for passage. In the Senate the vote was 50 - 50: Dick Cheney cast the vote that put the Republican bill over the top.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jobs_and_Growth_Tax_Relief_Reconciliation_Act_of_2003

How about jobs? Remember the American Jobs Act? It would have spent hundreds of billions on job creation and infrastructure. Harry Reid proposed to pay for it with a 5% surtax on incomes over $1 million. What happened? The Republicans filibustered it. So it was broken into individual pieces: the Republicans filibustered these, too. Are your principles on these issues based on blaming Democrats for policies that Republicans obstruct and block? Do you thus cling to your principles by voting for unelectable third parties who will ensure the election of even more Republicans?

(2) You do not put food on the table or fix infrastructure when you vote for people you know won't be elected. Because the people who don't get elected don't do anything. You are simply removing yourself from the system and pretending that you have no responsibility for what then happens in government. You are abrogating your duty. You've done nothing except opt out. Opting out helps no one.