tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4041089218060371051.post9171843480675954671..comments2023-10-25T04:32:52.345-04:00Comments on Just Blowing Smoke...: The Cost of PoliticsTimothy W Higginshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17118861693269565715noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4041089218060371051.post-44306031202999810302010-08-10T08:49:26.675-04:002010-08-10T08:49:26.675-04:00Tim- you concluded your piece with this statement:...Tim- you concluded your piece with this statement: <i>Continuing taxpayer funding for these political qualifiers is a political cost however that's simply wrong.</i><br /><br />I thought that your point was that these 'political qualifiers' cost the tax payers extra money because of the elections process associated with them.<br /><br />My point is that these elections are not strictly for 'internal party selection' but rather are associated with other ballot issues as well. Your point about "billing the taxpayer for the costs of an internal party selection process" holds true only if this is the sole purpose of that election day.mud_rakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04786611698569598023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4041089218060371051.post-13407136638574266712010-08-09T18:15:02.374-04:002010-08-09T18:15:02.374-04:00mud_rake,
What you appear to be discussing howeve...mud_rake,<br /><br />What you appear to be discussing however, is who gets on the final ballot which is a separate issue. If a local or state election wants to require a certain plurality and the legislature writes a law to insure such, by all means this is an issue of the court to determine. Whether we make the internal party candidate selection process of the Republicans and Democrats part of election process is something else entirely.Timothy W Higginshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17118861693269565715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4041089218060371051.post-58164623955567338222010-08-09T16:44:24.367-04:002010-08-09T16:44:24.367-04:00In March, 2008 SCOTUS voted 7 to 2 to allow the st...In March, 2008 SCOTUS voted 7 to 2 to allow the state of Washington to procede with its new electoral structure, under which the top two vote-getters in the open primary advance to the general election, regardless of party. <br /><br />In California, under Proposition 14, a measure that easily passed, traditional party primaries will be replaced in 2011 with wide-open elections. <br /><br />The problem with asking political parties to fund the cost of primary elections will be caught up in litigation precisely because of the recent actions of these two states [as well as a handful of other 'open primary' states.]<br /><br />The Fourteenth Amendment has some sticky stuff in it's Due Process and its Equal Protection clauses.<br /><br />Another sticking point in considering non-government funding of primary elections is that there are often other local issues on the ballot beyond party primaries.<br /><br />I'm afraid that the current, traditional government-funded election system will continue to roll along. Clearly there are much better 'targets' of tax-abuse than election funding that you or I could easily list in no time at all.mud_rakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04786611698569598023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4041089218060371051.post-62652851757753426302010-08-08T21:05:42.020-04:002010-08-08T21:05:42.020-04:00Amigos Tim and Dave,
There is a real simple soluti...Amigos Tim and Dave,<br />There is a real simple solution to taxpayer funded political party primary elections in determining the candidate for the respective political parties. Return to the political party caucus system.Roland Hansenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14510269002146276854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4041089218060371051.post-66087722989911040682010-08-08T10:30:55.019-04:002010-08-08T10:30:55.019-04:00Amigo Tim,
You know, I never looked at that way b...Amigo Tim,<br /><br />You know, I never looked at that way before, but you're right. the parties should be picking up the tab for their own internal selection process.<br /><br />The problem, at least in the immediate future, is that neither of the 2 major parties seems capable of carrying out such a feat on their own.<br /><br />So, maybe they should be allowed to build their own infrastructure for determining the selection of their own candidates; like they couldn't do any worse than the present system IMNHO..<br /><br />;-)Hooda Thunkit (Dave Zawodny)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13176392380086227377noreply@blogger.com