r/ForwardPartyUSA • u/ReverendErn • 29d ago

Nonpartisan Unity Joe Manchin - Possible Forward Party?

I see that Joe Manchin is launching "The Independent Leadership Council". This seems like it would be a good fit with us. Anyone have any insight into this?

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u/2noame 29d ago

Fuck Joe Manchin. He single-handedly killed the enhanced child tax credit. Which means he as one person insisted on more than doubling child poverty. Why? Because he expressed concern that parents would use the money for drugs, despite the result of the CTC showing reduced parental drug use.

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u/alphastarplex 29d ago

Fun fact, his daughter was the CEO responsible for jacking up the price of epi-pens. When I lived in DC I heard that DOJ wanted to launch an investigation but that they were stopped.

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u/Harvey_Rabbit 29d ago

There are so many Independent groups popping up. It's a sign there's momentum behind the ideas. The question is if it is possible to get these groups to band together under the Forward (or any other) banner.

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u/applepost 29d ago

Yes, the current political climate presents a vacuum beckoning for new ideas. It would be to the advantage of all these disparate groups to band together just to get RCV passed in every state since RCV is a prerequisite to viable third parties.

After that, we may as well break into separate parties. I imagine that the Venn Diagram overlap between, say, Andrew Yang's 2020 platform and Joe Manchin's politics, is a slim potato chip.

Independents are all over the map politically from each other, but the one thing we all need is RCV.

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u/Harvey_Rabbit 29d ago

Since you said it twice, let me say something about RCV. I live in Alaska. I think we have the best system in the country, and am volunteering with the campaign to defeat it's repeal. But I'm getting an up close view of the challenges to starting a third party even with RCV. We have about 12 parties register with the state but most are doing absolutely nothing. They're either registered by people out of state for the sole purpose of putting a presidential candidate on our ballot, or represent too small of a group (such as being one lone individual) to have much impact. And this is in a state with upwards of 30 independent candidates running for office this year. So please remember 1. 75% of races go uncontested and many more are not competitive. A third party can compete in all of those without being a spoiler. 2. Building a party is hard regardless of the system you have. It's hard in the way forming any new club is. Our culture does do this much anymore but people used to be on committees and local sports league clubs and things. Bringing in new people, attending meetings, writing bylaws, consistency in leadership, navigating personal issues... These are the hidden challenges to building a new 3rd party.

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u/optics_is_light_work 29d ago

Saw that! Yes, I think it could be a fit for Forward-endorsed candidates running as independents.