Good Morning, Michael
re: (as you said to Kristofer Munsterhjelm) "I think we need to
look at the primaries. A system of open primaries would be
beyond the reach of the parties ..."
I think you're right, the selection of candidates for public office must
be opened to the entire electorate. Such an approach has eluded us so
far because of the lack of organization among the non-partisans. This
lets the parties maintain their control of the electoral process with
the classic 'Divide and Conquer' strategy.
We must note that the value of non-partisans flows directly from their
lack of organization. In contrast to partisans who seek to advance
their special interests at the expense of the public, non-partisans have
no agenda. They just want 'good' government and, given the means, will
do their best to achieve it.
Opening the electoral process to the entire electorate is challenging.
We must conceive an electoral method that allows non-partisans to have
meaningful participation in the electoral process. When this is
accomplished, the perspective of partisans will be submitted to the
scrutiny and approval of those who may or may not share their views.
Parties will revert to their proper role of persuading rather than
controlling the people.
In the United States, non-partisans constitute a larger portion of the
electorate than registered Democrats and Republicans combined, yet,
because they do not submit to the major parties, they are not allowed
meaningful participation in the selection of elected officials. Their
only options are to vote for one of the major party's candidates or not
vote at all.
Although rarely noted, the situation is grave. Based on figures from
the Census Bureau and the Pew Research Center, the leaders of
approximately 42.6 million partisans (18.3 million registered
Republicans and 24.4 million registered Democrats) will determine the
political options available to 234.5 million people, of which about
191.9 million are not registered with a party and have no voice in the
selection of their representatives.
That's a mockery of democracy.
Fred
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