What have the political parties done for you lately? If you defend their power, what grounds or justification can you give for that?
In partisan primaries, voters are forced to guess and gamble and they face a dilemma that should not be imposed on them. They have only partial awareness of the stances of fellow citizens who don’t vote in their party’s primary but who do vote in the general election. On the one hand, the partisan voters could nominate a candidate who cannot win the general. On the other hand, the partisan voters could nominate a candidate of such poor moral character that they present the general public with no meaningful choice, as the candidates of both major parties will be horrible as usual.
[adding 2020-06-18] Furthermore, and maybe even more to the point, when the elections are conducted in more than one stage, e. g. primary elections followed by general elections, there is a risk that a faction can gain unfair advantage by promoting in an early stage a candidate they think can’t win in the end, into a later stage for squeezing out someone they don’t like, who otherwise could win. [end of 2020-06-18 addition]
The American people must break this dilemma by eliminating partisan elections.
I hereby propose that an organization should form in each State with the following plan:
- Publish about what they are doing and why.
- Vet candidates for State legislature with regard to whether those candidates support making voting for State and Federal office nonpartisan and resistant to the spoiler effect.
- Recruit more than half the voters in the State.
- Establish a discipline among the members that they will not vote for any candidate for the State legislature who does not promise (credibly) to enact the above changes.
Appendix I — Why Democratic Republicanism
Why do the American people need to replace the current US and each State with a democratic republic? Without democratic republicanism, how can the people gather enough political power to force their officials to do the right thing?
Appendix II — Why State By State
Even though there are some voting laws at the Federal level, by and large, it is State law that sets the overall form of elections, even for Federal office.
Appendix III — Preserving Individual Rights
Please note that even as the people establish a democratic republic, they can also preserve the Bill of Rights. These things are not in conflict.
Appendix IV — Web Links
Short link to this post.
https://wp.me/p23U97-hd
Posted on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/politics.us/permalink/3565881000151060/
Linked on Twitter.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/politics.us/permalink/3565881000151060/
Submitted to NYT reporter Sabrina Tavernise, who was asking people to write about their political frustrations.
Appendix V — Blurb 01
Appendix VI — Blurb 02
Party adherents are forced to guess and gamble and they face a dilemma that should not be imposed on them. On the one hand, they could nominate a candidate who cannot win the general. On the other hand, they could nominate a candidate of such poor moral character that they present the general public with no meaningful choice, as the candidates of both major parties will be horrible as usual. The American people must undo this conundrum in order to defeat the oligarchy and institute people power in its place. https://wp.me/p23U97-hd
