Mike Capuano has attracted another opponent — Nathan Smolensky:
Nathan Smolensky, a non-profit manager from Somerville, has announced that he will be running as an Independent for Massachusetts’s 7th District Congressional seat.
“We need Independent voices to speak up,” says Smolensky, “now more than ever. The parties are becoming increasingly polarized, and that means more strong-arming and undermining in our politics, and somehow even less getting done. The Democrats and Republicans are locked in this endless tug-of-war, and the American people are paying the price. But we can break the partisan stranglehold by demonstrating a formula for Independent success, and if we do that we can really change things.”
Smolensky’s own brand of non-partisan politics is focused on themes of empowering local solutions by making the federal government more symbiotic with local efforts, improving government efficiency by addressing wasteful and unsustainable spending programs, and making long-term policy possible by creating a blueprint for Independent success that can pave the way for a shift of the political landscape away from the volatile pendulum swings of the current paradigm.
Those of us who are chess players may recognize Mr. Smolensky as the president of the Massachusetts Chess Association, the non-profit mentioned above.
This is … not particularly inspiring. A third-way kind of guy vs. Cap and Pressley? Not seeing the market for that.
I have a similar reaction.
I have a lot of problems with the Democratic party (though paling in comparison to my feelings of the GOP) and the two-party system overall. I’d like to see voices outside of the two parties, but the voices of centrism aren’t the ones missing these days, and the “pole” in polarization is only moving in one direction. The Democratic party clearly covers the center, the center-left, and the some of the center-right. The GOP starts at the center-right and goes off a cliff. Anyone who uses the “both sides” argument to talk about polarization is dumb and bad.
Quick take: A very small plus for Capuano, if this guy stays in.
How do you figure?
He siphons off a few “change for the sake of change” votes that might otherwise go to Pressley.
Like I said, quick take.
Yeah, I think it matters less since he is a no name running as an independent in the general. I learned the hard way that most voters in November are going to be straight ticket ones either way. That said, if he gains some traction before the primary it could cut into some grassroots energy. We weill see. We definitely need more chess players in Congress.