When the wind changes

[alphabassettgrrl]

The primary elections only choose who runs in the real race, when you can vote for whoever you want.

You're right about voter apathy and fear of the unknown. Then again, we have some small successes sometimes with independant candidates. Jesse Ventura got elected governor of Minnesota as an independant; it can be done, and each time it happens makes the next time more likely. I think people are really upset with both parties at this point. It's all the same game, just a tiny bit of a different focus. Neither party cares about anything other than itself except when it's conveniant.

The people of Minnesota wound up not being very happy with Gov. Jesse but he started out doing a lot of good things and (so it seems) only later did he turn into an actual politician. When he was just a citizen trying to get things done, he seemed to do a pretty good job.

[Prudence]

Originally Posted by alphabassettgrrl

The primary elections only choose who runs in the real race, when you can vote for whoever you want.

But it's not that simple. In our former blanket primary system, a Democrat could say, "what an attractive Republican candidate that is. Our Democratic candidates for that position are left-wing nutjobs. I respect that particular Republican's moderate and fiscally responnsible approach." And the Democrat could vote for that particular Republican in the primary, giving that Republican a better shot at surviving the primary. Now the Democrat is stuck chosing which left-wing nutjob to vote for.

My limited experience is that blanket primaries offered a way to get to the middle. If a party candidate was too extreme, the moderate members of that party would gravitate toward a moderate candidate on the other party. The moderate candidates needed that influx of support from "the other side" to make it through the primary.

But the parties want "their" candidate to go through. Not the moderate. We tried to set up a "Cajun-style" primary where everyone votes for everyone in the primary and the top two go through to the final vote -- regardless of party. I think we had a voter-passed initiative on that. But the parties got that tossed out in court as well.

Maybe it's the tinfoil hat, but I don't think the primaries are irrelevant. The parties wouldn't be pushing these suits if it weren't in their best interest to keep the party-only primary. Meanwhile, the voters want to pick whomever they want, even at the primary level. The parties have already shown they are willing to work contrary to public will in order to ensure the parties' survival.