Eliot Ackerman, Chief Operating Officer of Americans Elect, has this interview in NextGenJournal, an on-line magazine for young voters. The very first sentence spoken by Ackerman in the interview is, “I don’t think this is just about the candidates or centrism; this is about getting an independent ticket in the race.” What Ackerman said is consistent with Americans Elect bylaws. The Americans Elect rules have never mentioned the word “centrism”, and has never said the goal is to put a centrist in the race. Instead, Americans Elect rules required a balanced ticket, but any Democrat paired with a Republican, or vice versa, is “deemed” balanced by the Americans Elect rules.
Nevertheless, many press accounts over the last few months have falsely asserted that Americans Elect will only nominate “centrists.”
What is a so-called *centrist* in 2012 ???
Somebody with NO brains ???
MORE or LESS govt — nonstop political-economic WAR for 6,000 plus years.
NET tax/savings getters versus NET tax/savings producers.
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i.e. is AE one more undercover scheme to DIVIDE and CONQUER ??? Duh.
How about a Libertarian coupled with a Green or a Constitutionalist?
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It can still be assumed that AE”s leadership will steer the nomination process toward a ticket more or less in the center of the political spectrum. “Independent” and “balanced” are merely different ways of saying “centrist.” A Democrat and Republican paired together would, by definition, be “centrist.” Such a ticket would only be possible with candidates from the moderate wings of their respective parties. A leftwing Democrat is not going to team up with a rightwing Republican. One possible exception might be Dennis Kucinich and Walter Jones — who who share opposition to war but probably not enough else to sustain a credible ticket. Jill Stein and Rocky Anderson are from “different parties,” but are not “persons of differing ideological perspectives or positions,” as stipulated in AE’s nomination rules.
You could definitely see your expertise within the paintings you write. The sector hopes for more passionate writers such as you who are not afraid to say how they believe. Always go after your heart.
The comment above this is spam, by the way.
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I wish it were otherwise, but what Ackermann says is true. I’ve talked to him and several other staff there and they’re all very much clear on the nonpartisan point. I’m no centrist zealot (although I do have a political humor page called just that), and I’d grudgingly accept and vote for someone like Roemer, but if AE nominated an extremist like Ron Paul (or Gary Johnson, or Bernie Sanders, or some other ____ winger), they’re dead to me. I can’t support anything that provides a platform for extremists.
Although it’s not true, widening the scope a bit, that AE messaging never had centrist / moderate language (not sure about bylaws). Before they started promoting themselves, there was a period where their messaging was SOMEWHAT overtly centrist/moderate, but they dropped it and went strictly nonpartisan before they started promoting themselves.
Contemplating the impossible for a moment, the liberation of American politics from Zionist control is the most critical issue of the day. Absurdly, you have one of the two major US parties acting as little more than a single-issue front for right-wing Israeli nationalism while (in practice) the other party differs little on that issue.
Here’s some political humor for ya:
http://mantiqaltayr.wordpress.com/2012/01/07/the-idaho-caucus/
Nominating for president a person from one party and for vice president from another party and calling that, by definition, a “centrist” ticket is like saying you can create a “reasonably behaved” person by strapping a nun to the back of a homicidal maniac who’s firing an AK-47 into a crowd. The nun would have more influence on the behavior of the lunatic than a Republican Vice President would have on a Democratic President (or, if you like, a Democrat on a Republican). The policies of the administration will be those of the president and, for the most part, represent those of his party.
What kind of foolishness is this, anyway?
I guess if you make a ticket of one member from the Nazi Party and one member from the Communist Party, that would be “balanced,” too.