How to enjoy anchovy ice cream
Imagine you have two ice cream shops in your town. You go to the first and when you get to the counter, you’re told they only have one flavor: anchovy. So, you go across town to the other shop, but find out their only flavor is Spam. Maybe you’re into Spam. Or you see other people lining up for anchovy and figure, it can’t be that bad. Odds are, you’re confused, demoralized, and outraged. “How are those the only choices!?”
You talk to your friends about it. You tell your coworkers, your family, you post about it on social media. Everyone seems to agree, it’s disgusting and needs to change. Your friend from school says you should open a third ice cream shop, but you did the research and you know you’re stuck with two choices. Your cousin tells you to give up ice cream altogether and rants about why she quit. Your uncle won’t stop sending Facebook articles about anchovy ice cream conspiracies.
You realize that if you’re going to be stuck with two terrible flavors of ice cream, you should at least have some tasty toppings, like hot fudge and whipped cream. You talk with your neighbors and many have things they want too: mini M&Ms, caramel, rainbow sprinkles, fresh fruit, and so on. Together, you draft a set of demands. Sure, you don’t personally care about walnut pieces and gummy bears, but you’re willing to accept them to make the two-flavor paradigm palatable.
The whole group agrees; for an entire year, you will only buy ice cream from the first shop to offer the entire list of toppings. Your cousin even promises that she’ll start buying ice cream again, as long as there’s a way to make it appetizing. You know that Spam ice cream and anchovy ice cream will always have their loyal followings, but as customers hungry for change, you’ll be the ones who decide which shop turns a profit and which one will lose out.
You deliver your set of demands to both ice cream shops, and wait to see who will meet your terms first. Some of your neighbors debate about which one they want to win your business; a few have a flavor that they really find nauseating. You realize you don’t care, though. Both choices may be distasteful, but with enough delicious toppings, you could actually enjoy going out for ice cream again.
For too long, voters have been asked to choose the lesser of two evils; a Democratic or Republican gets elected to Congress more than 99% of the time. Although 40% of the American electorate doesn’t identify with either party, voters see few options. Many hold their breath and choose the less offensive candidate; others quit voting all together. Third parties face high barriers to entry, and would need 35% of the vote to be viable and not merely act as a spoiler.
That’s where the American Union of swing voters strategy is different. We’re not creating a new party. We’re not running candidates or going to be spoilers. We’re definitely not telling people to give up their political franchise! We’re saying the way to break the party duopoly is through collective action, unionizing behind a specific set of demands, and forcing candidates to compete for our votes.
We’ve listened to our neighbors. The result is the Blueprint for a Better America, a legislative package [PDF] organized around three principal goals: ending poverty, ending mass incarceration, and ending the endless wars. We know that our negotiating power is enhanced when we have clear demands that represent our diverse members. We understand that not everyone supports every policy, but each is essential to holding us together as a union with the leverage to affect the outcome of the 2022 elections.
Our destiny as a country is far too important to have only two bad options, and there are many Americans hungry for change. The American Union will dish up something new, and together, we can transform the system into something that delivers what we want. We’re not just putting new flavors on the menu, but changing the recipe for political success in 2022.
Learn more at AnAmericanUnion.com.
