HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

Don't Fear Independents Like Howard Schultz! Politics Should Be More Like a Starbucks Menu

Views:1038
@ReasonVids

There are more forms of hepatitis than there are major parties in America.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/reasontv
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magazine
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason
Subscribe to our podcast at Apple Podcasts: https://goo.gl/az3a7a

Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.

----------------

Nearly a dozen Democrats are already running for president. The highlights so far include an interview about immigration livestreamed from a dental chair, a former Harvard professor popping a beer like jes' plain folks on New Year's Eve, and a draconian former prosecutor pledging her allegiance to Wakanda. Democrats are tripping over each other to pitch Medicare for All, Free College for All, Guaranteed Jobs for All, and laying taxes on wealth as well as income.

And then there's Howard Schultz.

The former CEO of Starbucks is considering a run for president as a "centrist independent." He says that the national debt threatens economic growth, that we shouldn't demonize successful entrepreneurs, and that the government can't be all things to all people.

That brought public hate, contempt, and character assassination from every conceivable angle.

It's not just anti-globalist lefties on the attack. The New York Times' op-ed page says he's narcissistic, delusional, and fanatical. His potential run, his critics claim, would be nothing short of "reckless idiocy."

But Schultz's belief that neither major party represents America is widely shared. A plurality of Americans don't identify with either party. And nearly three-quarters of us think the country is headed in the wrong direction, which helps to explain why neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump won a majority of the popular vote in 2016.

The two-party duopoly and its supporters in the media understand how widely disliked they are, which is why they want to kneecap anyone who isn't on Team Red or Team Blue.

You don't have to agree with Schultz to understand that having more voices and ideas on the table at this point in the election cycle is a good thing—especially when you consider the alternatives.

Democrats fear people such as Schultz because they think he will drain votes from whoever their nominee ends up being, giving Trump a path to re-election. But that's actually a faulty analysis.

Former Republican Rep. John Anderson was blamed for pulling votes from Jimmy Carter in 1980, but almost half his supporters would have gone with Reagan as their second choice.

In 1992, the GOP fingered Ross Perot as a political saboteur, but the 19 percent of Americans who pulled the lever for the Texas Billionaire were equally split between Bush and Clinton as their fallback. In 2016, socially liberal and fiscally conservative voters—Schultz's demographic—broke for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton, suggesting the coffee-shop magnate would pull votes from the incumbent president rather than his Democratic challenger.

Four years ago, during his attempt to win the Democratic nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.) complained that we don't "need a choice of 23 underarm spray deodorants." If variety in armpit aroma isn't his thing, I'd like to believe that the Vermont socialist would at least favor more choice at the ballot box. Right now, there are more forms of hepatitis than viable political parties in America.

So it's kind of fitting that the former CEO of a company that introduced infinite choice in coffee drinks is now being dragged for threatening to expand the political spectrum all the way from A to C. If American politics can't stand even the possibility of an independent candidate who praises capitalism, opposes massive tax increases, and wants to reduce federal debt, we're already screwed.

Edited by Mark McDaniel. Cameras by Jim Epstein. Graphics by Joshua Swain.

Ghost Dance by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.

Photo Credits: David Becker/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Brian Cahn/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Brian Cahn/TNS/Newscom; Rick Friedman/Polaris/Newscom; Imagine China/Newscom; Everett Collection/Newscom; Arnie Sachs/SIPA/Newscom; Mark Reinstein/ZUMA Press/Newscom; JASON REDMOND/REUTERS/Newscom

libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
,
starbucks
,
howard schultz
,
elections
    Thumbnail for Gun Control Is Still Dead: Paloma Heindorff on the Future of the Homemade Firearm Movement14:21
    Gun Control Is Still Dead: Paloma Heindorff on the Future of the Homemade Firearm Movement
    ReasonVids
    911 views
    Thumbnail for Self-Driving Cars Will Make Most Auto Safety Regulations Unnecessary7:08
    Self-Driving Cars Will Make Most Auto Safety Regulations Unnecessary
    ReasonVids
    1065 views
    Thumbnail for Whole Foods' John Mackey: Why Intellectuals Hate Capitalism15:52
    Whole Foods' John Mackey: Why Intellectuals Hate Capitalism
    ReasonVids
    870 views
    Thumbnail for Kelly Thomas Verdict: Father, Protesters Speak Out Against Not Guilty Verdicts3:15
    Kelly Thomas Verdict: Father, Protesters Speak Out Against Not Guilty Verdicts
    ReasonVids
    936 views
    Thumbnail for The Foie Gras Fight: Animal Cruelty or Animal Rights Propaganda?6:02
    The Foie Gras Fight: Animal Cruelty or Animal Rights Propaganda?
    ReasonVids
    896 views
    Thumbnail for Birdcatcher0:15
    Birdcatcher
    AOUisgay
    485 views
    Thumbnail for Freedom of speech0:03
    Freedom of speech
    AOU
    5307 views
    Thumbnail for Bombs away!0:05
    Bombs away!
    bestofvoatxyz
    575 views
    Thumbnail for Project Pidgeon1:00
    Project Pidgeon
    bestofupgoat
    83 views
    Thumbnail for Watch Elizabeth Warren Lie About Her Son's Private School Education7:26
    Watch Elizabeth Warren Lie About Her Son's Private School Education
    ReasonVids
    1007 views
    Thumbnail for Niggers and smoke detectors0:09
    Niggers and smoke detectors
    AOUisgay
    639 views
    Thumbnail for Generation Snowflake0:29
    Generation Snowflake
    bestofvoatxyz
    671 views
    Thumbnail for Kentucky Fried Genocide7:24
    Kentucky Fried Genocide
    AOUisgay
    494 views
    Thumbnail for Worlds deadliest cat0:59
    Worlds deadliest cat
    bestofupgoat
    446 views
    Thumbnail for Budget Chef Presents: How to Balance the Budget W/O Raising Taxes!2:05
    Budget Chef Presents: How to Balance the Budget W/O Raising Taxes!
    ReasonVids
    1013 views
    Thumbnail for Alex Jones Interviews David Icke about the MAM (Mainstream Alternative Media)1:45:38
    Alex Jones Interviews David Icke about the MAM (Mainstream Alternative Media)
    AOUisgay
    279 views
    Thumbnail for People will die1:55
    People will die
    bestofupgoat
    468 views
    Thumbnail for 1988 - CBS 60 Minutes - ((( Mike Wallace ))) tells the truth about AIPAC's undue, illegal, and near complete control of U.S. Congress.9:20
    1988 - CBS 60 Minutes - ((( Mike Wallace ))) tells the truth about AIPAC's undue, illegal, and near complete control of U.S. Congress.
    bestofupgoat
    457 views
    Thumbnail for Waking the Undead Chronic | Grunt Speak Live3:38:15
    Waking the Undead Chronic | Grunt Speak Live
    Terrence Popp
    1290 views
    Thumbnail for Do Free Societies Need Postmodernism? A Debate1:28:47
    Do Free Societies Need Postmodernism? A Debate
    ReasonVids
    764 views
    Thumbnail for Oy vey Oy vey Oy vey stop questioning me!! Disgusting kike rat Mayorkas whines, kvetches, and plays muh holocaust card during hearing1:28
    Oy vey Oy vey Oy vey stop questioning me!! Disgusting kike rat Mayorkas whines, kvetches, and plays muh holocaust card during hearing
    bestofupgoat
    420 views
    Thumbnail for What If We Never Landed on the Moon? | What If8:18
    What If We Never Landed on the Moon? | What If
    invidious
    291 views
    Thumbnail for 【LIVE】昼のニュース(Japan News Digest Live)最新情報など|TBS NEWS DIG(3月7日) | TBS NEWS DIG Powered by JNN7:00:09
    【LIVE】昼のニュース(Japan News Digest Live)最新情報など|TBS NEWS DIG(3月7日) | TBS NEWS DIG Powered by JNN
    invidious
    80 views
    Thumbnail for Lgbt cop cars in Canada!0:36
    Lgbt cop cars in Canada!
    bestofupgoat
    407 views
    Thumbnail for New Drone Tech: No Propellers, and Yet It Flies! | Roswell Flight Test Crew3:21
    New Drone Tech: No Propellers, and Yet It Flies! | Roswell Flight Test Crew
    invidious
    409 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
,
starbucks
,
howard schultz
,
elections
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle