Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for October 06, 2024

Can I cast my vote for Mint Chocolate Chip?

i vote for asteroid!

The vote is like the cable channels, you have options, but you can’t find anything you like.

Voting is very easy, just do it!

Lots of Cable Systems have virtual monopolies, or at least they used to.

The independent candidates never get elected. There was a guy who went to my college (perpetual student) who always wanted people to write him in for President. Everyone said they would, no one ever did because you see—we knew him personally.

Anyone who tries to give the voters an extra choice gets called a traitor!

Grateful it’s only two – imagine trying to get voters across the country to decide which of the Baskin Robbins 31 flavors is the best

If you’re still undecided in this election, you’re beyond hope!!!

It wouldn’t work any better. Reps would run a few different ones. Dems would do as they did this time: the bosses would agree on one individual and sell her as the messiah.

When it was Dump vs Biden I was waiting for some celeb or real billionaire to jump in.

Is it really freedom of choice, when someone else gets to decide what the choices are? I’m going with Bill & Opus.

Two choices? You can do like Batman’s villain, two face. Flip a coin. The virtuous Harvey Dent law and order moral decision on one side, and Trump on the other.

I only have one option for cable these days, and it sucks.

Illusion of choice. One of the oldest sales tricks in the book.

Fun fact: You don’t have to choose among only two, there are usual several other parties on the ballot (like Libertarian or Green), and you’re even able to do a write-in vote for absolutely anyone you please. The choices are actually unlimited. No one’s forcing you to choose between only A or B.

But despite a groundswell of support, Pogo never won.

I know who I am NOT voting for.

This complete false equivalence. For more numbers of politicians ain’t gooder than less numbers of em.

I am paying for cable channels I will never watch, no choice bundles they call it! We should have ala carte!

Mocha!! A double which makes for a great combination!!

I’m wondering if the last panel reminded anyone else of Pete Seeger’s “Where Have All the Flowers Gone”.

The Constitution is hard-coded for the presidency to reduce the electoral system to two parties. Or one. No other equilibrium states are stable. I don’t think there is any easy or good solution for the single point at the top, but that’s why I think the presidency should be weakened except for REAL crises—not the fake crises the wolves are constantly shouting about.

If the House elections were fixed (mostly to stop the partisan gerrymandering) and the House itself was strengthened, then it could do a lot to improve the situation in America. So are you interested in “guest voting”? Starts with an option to vote next door if your own district is too gerrymandered for you.

Great-Pastis opened a hornet’s nest in the comments section.

It’s the same with baseball and football. The Super Bowl only allows two teams. In the World Series, only two teams get to play. It’s unfair, I say!

Our political system is designed like sports leagues. There are two “divisions” and lots of competition within those divisions, but there can only be one winner. If we want something different, where coalitions form at the highest levels, where multiple parties work together in actual governance, then we have to change the entire system, probably to a parliamentary system. Good luck.

Actually you only have 1 choice, if you want to live free, with a Constitution.

People nowadays would then elect Gilligan.

When will they ever learn. Oh when will they ever learn?

There ARE more than two, but until the sheeple wake up and stop voting for the two major parties that is all we will ever get

Our ballot has six choices – the two main ones are smack in the middle, and on the bottom. Which is which?

: – )

Does anyone remember the Monty Python skit about the numerous silly political parties found in England?

Tired of old white guys? Good news, we have none running for President this time. Just one woman of color (what color I don’t know, I’m confused about that), and one orange guy (well he’s old, but his orange tint somehow helps with that). Take your pick, that’s it folks.

Not saying who I’m voting for.

As for third party candidates here is a cautionary tale: in the tight 2000 election, Al Gore would have won Florida, its 25 Electoral College votes, and therefore the presidency if Ralph Nader (running as the Green Party candidate) had not run as a presidential candidate. George W. Bush defeated Al Gore by 537 votes. Nader received 97,421 votes in Florida, which led to a general consensus that Nader’s campaign took enough votes from Gore in Florida to cost him the election.

Sorry, but there is only “one” candidate that is giving us a choice. We have been “told” to who to vote for by the Democratic Party.

In Massachusetts there are three official political parties: Democrats, Republicans, and Libertarians. In addition, there are 29 political designations, not considered official parties but a voter can enroll in any of them and the political designations can field candidates for state offices.

I suspect other states have similar things.

However, since the constitution requires that the president be elected by a majority of the Electoral College, there is an effective limit of two parties. Failure of the EC to achieve a majority leads to throwing the vote to the house for president and the senate for vice president just to confuse things further (per the 12th amendment).

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None of the above

There are 11 choices on the Louisiana ballot.

And if you are a Democrat, you didn’t even get to vote for your nominee.

There’s only one choice. Choose the one of the two primary candidates (Putin employee Jill Stein and brain-starved Bob Kennedy are just grotesquries) who hasn’t been found guilty of multiple felonies — vote for KAMALA HARRIS.

There is only one logical choice “Taylor Swift”!

There are two major party candidates and four minor ones. Plus, 18 others who dropped out for lack of support.

Eliminating the Electoral College would help solve this problem

Ted Rall and Scott Stantis will be crying about this very subject here today.

It does make voting easy… vote for democracy or vote Republican.

Considering the quality of the contenders, it’s a good thing there are only two. Going down, from here.

Imagine if we voted for ice cream flavors and TV channels. Everyone would be stuck with vanilla and the NFL no matter their personal preferences.

As recent history proves, most voters can’t tell the difference between the truth and a lie.

You all know that the framers of the constitution were dead set against political parties. That lasted all the way to Washington’s second term!

Just remember that in some countries there’s only one candidate to vote for.

Saw this coming in the first panel.

We have 16 candidates in Ecuador vying for the presidential role in our upcoming 2025 elections. Of those, there are 6 that are serious contenders. Unless one of them wins by more than 50% of the vote on the first ballot, a run-off election will be held featuring the top 3 vote-getters. Like him/her or not, the president will be elected by a democratic popular vote, not some arcane Electoral College system!

BTW Voting is mandatory for citizens of Ecuador aged 18 – 65. For Seniors and incapacitated individuals who can’t get to the polls, the voting registrars will come to them, and they can vote in their own homes.

When you vote, the picture on your cedula( national identification card) and signature is matched to the picture and signature on the voting roles, eliminating voter fraud.

I’m not sure I’d want dozens of options for political candidates. It’s hard enough trying to choose non-essential things, like what kind of chocolate I want to eat.

Decisions, decisions!!!

People get the leaders that they deserve.

True dat!

Yes, there are only two real choices for the President. However, if you believe women should have sanctity over their bodies and you believe in the Constitution and the peaceful transfer of power, then Harris is the only choice. Plus, Employment is up, Inflation is down, and markets are doing great.

57 channels and there’s nothing on.

I swear whenever I flip on the TV, well more than half the time any given channel is showing a commercial. I’d cancel it altogether, but my wife likes TCM and the music channels.

Democracy is practically nonexistent these days.

Clearly, this years election is very significant. Why anyone would support Trump, who failed miserably in his first term is beyond my comprehension. What I do wish is that more people would show as much enthusiasm for the down-ballot races. As I used to tell my students, the closer the race (and office) to you the more it can potentially impact your lives.

There are about 1100 people running for president this year, down from recent previous years.

Excellent!

Ranked choice voting will get more candidate on the ballot.

The choices are mostly A or B, Yes or No, but there are 39 items on my ballot this year.

Gone to flowers everyone. When will they ever learn?…..

Get rid of the Electoral College, and then you can have a functional multi-party system.

I’m getting so tired of all the political ads in the comics, in my streaming programs…I’m starting to miss all the Big Pharma ads! Whichever side you are on, if you want a 3rd party, start at the local level, get 3rd parties in your city, county, and state. Now, on to more of Bill and Opus 24!!!

UGH… Historiographer, here. With two parties, the winner has the support of about half of the population. When a third party steps in, the winner represents, by default, a minority (about one-third). In US history, this is seldom a good thing.

Freedom of Choice -is what you got…

Freedom from Choice- is what you want.

-Devo.

There’s more than two choices. You also have, including but not limited to, the Green Party, Marijuana Party, Libertarian Party, Communist Party…..

I seem to recall the last two WWs that America hid under the blanket until they had no choice, That’s not leadership.

“If you can’t put your values into your vote, then democracy is lost at sea.” – Dr Jill Stein.

Funny, on my ballot I have eight presidential candidates to choose from. Perhaps Rat should actually look at his ballot rather then stabbing blindly? If he bothers to vote at all.

Apparently he completely missed the primaries.

The simple solution to voting is get rid of the electoral completely and go with the popular vote only with an IN-COUNTRY network not connected to the Internet in any way. Then other countries couldn’t hack into our elections. And whoever gets the most votes wins.

In just the two major parties there were 27 candidates for president. Through the processes installed by each party, primary voting, that’s been narrowed down to the two we have now. We only have one president at a time.

Took me 3 years to decide on the tile for my backsplash.

Nobody voted for Harris, there was no primary. The only reason she is the democrat’s choice is because she’s the only person that can get the campaign funds from Biden’s war chest. The democrats didn’t want to lose the 200 million.

I don’t know where Stephan votes, but in my state, we have five choices this year, as we did in 2020.

Crest or Colgate.

Bill Hicks: “I like the puppet on the right”

“Well, I prefer the puppet on the left”

Hey look, it’s THE SAME GUY HOLDING BOTH PUPPETS

So you have to vote for the lesser of two evils. IMHO, one candidate personifies “lesser” and “evils” above the other. But those two qualities serendipitously sink that candidate to the bottom of the list.

Not really, you do not vote for President, the Electoral College does. No shenanigans in between, we swear.

I wonder what would happen if we threw out the Primaries and just put everyone who signed up to run on the November ballot. Whoever gets the most votes wins. It might be a surprising outcome.

2 viable airlines left, most people choose vanilla or cholate, seams most people paint grey exteriors with white interiors, and 1000 channels with nothing to watch except bad news. So yeah, two parties are about all we can handle. That’s provided we don’t have to look up from our phones.

Ummm…there are SEVERAL candidates. Unfortunately, because of the out-dated and out-moded duoply, most people are only concerned with the 2 major parties.

I must have too much time on my hands for I read through all of these comments, and it proved to me once and for all that old saying about peoples opinions and their szamár lyukak, everyone has one…

Gone to psychopaths, every one. When will they ever learn?

Presidential systems really aren’t a good fit, though there are some countries (France and Mexico come to mind offhand) where the election happens in two stages, with the first being a knockout round and the second being between the top two finishers, thus ensuring that the president won with a majority of the vote. A ranked choice ballot would have the same effect.

It’s a bit of a paradox, though. We’re not going to have more than two viable candidates without a system like that, and we’re not going to get a system like that without more than two viable candidates. As long as the two party system is firmly established, there’s not much point to ranked choice voting.

Though it did make Lisa Murkowski bulletproof two years ago and gave her the courage she needed to stand up to maga bullies, as much as she was going to anyway. It might help other Republicans emancipate themselves.

The only Independent to win the presidential election was George Washington.

I have no clue at this point which book this was in, but many years ago I read a Science Fiction Book by an author who probably counted as being in the original definition of Libertarian. In the book there was an election and the ‘winner’ was -——-“none of the above is acceptable”.

And there is likely one cable company. And you have to pay for the sports package whether you want it or not. We had cable to watch TCM only – finally let it go a few months ago and don’t miss it one bit and saved $150 per month as well.

Lying insurrectionist Republicans want to take your rights away so that they can be dictators.

You only have one. If you want democracy, that is.

Democracy is 5 wolves and a sheep taking a vote to decide what to have for dinner. We have a representative Republic, if, as Franklin was supposed to have said, “if we can keep it..”

In every election, you get TWO choices:…

1) Get hit in the head with a golf club.

2) Get hit in the head with a baseball bat.

……… Choose wisely.

or, if one in particular gets his way, you’ll never hafta worry about who to vote for ever again… lol!

It’s worse than that. Due to gerrymandering by both parties, few congressional seats are competitive. There’s really only one choice. My congressperson got 71% of the vote in 2022, 71% in 2020, 73% in 2018. Now, I’m OK with her, but those favoring the other party really won’t have a voice in Congress the way the district is drawn.

Canadian here. What are these “airline options” of which you speak? Our airline options are generally “fly” and “don’t fly”.

Sometimes I think Stephan throws these strips out there and then kicks back to watch the wolves tear each other apart. I guess every job has it perks.

When the USA was formed the more common choice was one. And nobody voted. Two seemed like a giant step up. Later democracies and republics expanded the numbers. But ultimately it comes down to a majority coalition and minority coalition. And the elections just get more complicated.

Yeah well make sure you get it right, because if you don’t you might never get another chance. VOTE BLUE signed Childless Cat Lady

With regards to George Carlin.

There’s usually a minimum of 4 but sometimes more. You just probably haven’t heard of several or don’t want to.

In Germany, we have more than 40 parties to choose from but only 4 of them ever came to power, in combinations of 2-3.

Why does the USA only have two candidates? Is it not possible to have more? In the UK, it’s rare for any election to have less than 4 different candidates/parties to choose from.

Not true. You have more than two choices. There is the Independent Party, the Green Party, the Communist Party, (oops, that is democrat party). Well there are more than two.

Ballotpedia lists dozens of presidential candidates. We have many choices. I’m voting for Vice President Harris, since she is likely to be a good president and she has the best chance of keeping Trump out of the White House.

Vote Libertarian. It has the best aspects of both major parties. Fiscally responsible while for social liberties.

Thanks for the earworm. “…when will they ever learn, when will they ever learn.”

You have plenty of choices. It just got narrowed down to two, sometimes three.

Get rid of the electoral college and mutiple parties will work. Until then….

Only true if you don’t vote in the primary. In 2016, there were at least 37 Democrats on ballots in at least one state, and hundreds more who filed papers to run. The Republicans only had 22. That’s more choices than you get with Baskin-Robbins (31).

“Democracy” does not mean having many choices. It means having many choosers.

At least now, cable companies have competition. Not like in the olden days, when local governments granted monopolies (for some reason), and local politicians and other bigwigs got shares of cable companies at bargain prices (for some reason).

Today’s strip means it is once again time for the usual book recommendation.

There’s a reason for having only two choices, and it is explained in Why America Stopped Voting, by Mark L. Kornbluh.

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