Get Off Your High Horses, Third Party Voters

James Barraford
Beach Sand Kicker
Published in
3 min readAug 18, 2016

Recently, I coined a new term for Donald Trump voters: The Stubbornly Ignorant.

I have a new term for those who are insisting on voting third party this November: The Stubbornly Principled.

The Stubbornly Principled scream on and on about the two-party system as if there are not profound differences in the party platforms. Their screeching voices ignore the obvious gulf which exists in said platforms. Whether it’s women’s rights, gay rights, minorities rights, health care for all, immigration, the minimum wage, the right to unionize, keeping corporations out of financing elections, and a myriad of other position differences between the GOP and the Democrats…. the Stubbornly Principled want no part in seeing those differences.

Third party voters have less principles than Trump voters and that’s saying a lot.

Rolling the dice on a future of Donald Trump as president because you want to swim against the political tide is astonishing if no other reason than the Supreme Court. There are liberal justices over 80 years old and several close to that age. They are going to be retiring and/or dying out of the robe in the coming years. The current 4 vs. 4 stalemate should be enough of a wake up call to those sitting on the fence and those firmly on the Stubbornly Principled side of the fence.

What more will it take, Third Party Voters?

Do you have kids? Do you care what future they are to live in when a conservative Court is packed with solid majorities for the next three to four decades?

What will you tell your kids someday when they can no longer marry as they please, when they don’t have job safety protection, when climate change spins out of control, when health care becomes a luxury again, when there is no social security or medicare because it was privatized and lost?

You can look them in the eye and tell them you had to vote third party in the more important election in modern times?

If you can, then shame on you.

My wrath is especially set against comfortable celebs such as Susan Sarandon who continue to bang the third party drum. It’s easy to be Stubbornly Principled when you aren’t getting by paycheck-to-paycheck. Rallying others to go against their best interests is what the GOP has done for years and now we have alleged “progressives” doing the same damage.

The Libertarian Party is nothing more than the GOP for the bong crowd. Even a cursory examine of their platform shows nothing more than pipe dreams and a dangerous relaxing of government oversight in crucial areas.

My ire is especially directed at Green Party voters. Jill Stein comes off as just a bit less unhinged than Sarah Palin and yet this is where the “progressive” Stubbornly Principled have hitched their wagons.

Third party voters, it’s time you got off your high horses. You aren’t principled. You are just as dangerous as Trump voters. You are potentially crushing your children’s future. You are ignoring the damage a conservative Court can inflict on the rest of your lives…. and the rest of ours.

There are troubling concerns with both real candidates. I’ve not been a Clinton fan in the past, but the stakes are too high now. I had to put on my big boy pants and see the greater picture of the years ahead.

And now it’s time for third party voters to do the same. Your kids and country need you to see that same greater picture.

Stop being Stubbornly Principled.

Follow me on Twitter at @Barraford

email thoughts, complaints, slaps on the back, or go to hell’s at jamesbarraford@gmail.com.

Follow my Medium publication Beach Sand Kicker to read the rest of my stories.

--

--

James Barraford
Beach Sand Kicker

Personal essays and breezy thoughts from the middle of the pack