Why Do We Pay For Primaries?

Candidates are already jockeying for position for state and local elections. Democrat, Republican, and Independent; they present themselves for positions for at-large City Council seats and for Mayor here in Toledo, while Congressional and Senate seats that are also up for grabs in this next election are a constant source of speculation as to who can beat who heads up. 
 
This got me thinking about the election process in general, and these preliminaries in particular. You see before we know it, it will be time for the political primaries. For some reason, the United States seems to have developed as a two party system. There is no real reason for this that I can discover, as there is nothing in the Constitution that mandates or limits the political process to two parties, and many other countries around the world seem to have made a multi-party system work; but it seems that this has been so almost since we first elected a president. 

Beginning with the Democratic-Republicans (curious when we see the two parties using those names today) who wanted a weak central government, a single opposition party grew, the Federalists who wanted a strong central government. Political parties came and went over the years, with such parties as the Anti-Masonic Party (1826-38), the Whig party (1833-56), one of my personal favorites the American party (known as the No-Nothings) (1854-58), the Socialist party of America (1901-73), with the current Democratic Party being formed in 1828, and the current Republican Party having been formed in 1854. 

And while we have often had more than three parties at any one time and there are some 3rd party candidates who have taken quite serious runs at offices in the US over the years (very occasionally even succeeding), for the most part the competition for elected office in the US has generally been a two party battle in this country. The point that I would like to make however is not that the two party system is good or bad, but that these two political parties appear to be quite capable to raise money to elect candidates, raise money to participate in conventions to decide on platforms, and raise even more money to choose candidates to run in their names at conventions. They even attempt to ask for my money from time to time in these efforts (I always refuse), but they never really ask for my input except to request my vote for their candidates on election day. 

They are not run by the government nor really for the government, but the preliminary internal elections that they have to choose their candidates are never the less paid for by the government. So you see, as a registered Independent (and card carrying Libertarian) I have to ask myself why any government money (you know, my money) is being used by either the Democratic and Republican Parties to hold these primaries, especially since I don't get to vote in either.

 Don't get me wrong. I want them to be able to field good candidates to chose from. I want them to be able to debate, share their views, and go through a process of choice to get the best people to run for office. I simply do not understand why this is a cost that should be picked up by the taxpayer rather than the party in question. Third party candidates do not get to utilize such government resources in challenging this two party monetary monopoly. Libertarians as an example, have to spend their own party funds to nominate their candidates. Heck, they have to spend a great deal of their party's funding to even get on the ballot in most cases, let alone to choose a candidate to do so. I see no reason therefore why membership in a one political party over another should rate special funding in running for office. 

Looking back at the amount of money spent during the last election cycle (the largest in history), I can see no reason why this can't be be the case. Both traditional parties proved themselves remarkably adroit in raising funds for campaigns, in spite of the current restrictions of campaign finance law. If that is so, let them raise the money to select their candidates as well. 

Certainly in these days of government funding cut backs and budget crunches, there is ample reason to remove this burden from city, state, and federal budgets. Perhaps it is time to re-evaluate this part of the electoral process. Perhaps in these days of hope and change it's time to divorce the political process from these two traditional parties that have not served it particularly well. Perhaps it is time to level the playing field a bit in order to elect the best possible people to office, rather than those from the two most in control political parties.

 

X-Rated Televison

  This is now Day 2 of the Democratic Convention in Denver, and I had a number of calls last night asking if I had watched, or was watching the coverage. 

Conservative friends were convinced that I would have something insulting, derogatory, or simply amusing to say about the nonsense that is typical of political conventions. Liberal friends (yes, I do have some) were looking for me to have seen the light and admit the error of my ways. 

As I so often do with my friends, I disappointed them. You see, I didn't watch any of the 1st night coverage. I don't intend to watch the 2nd night, nor any subsequent nights of the coverage. I further do not intend to watch any of the coverage of the Republican Convention in Minneapolis / St Paul.

Now you would think that I would watch both conventions, using them as a source for the nonsense that I regularly put forward here. While I am sure that they would indeed provide a target rich environment, I do not consider this blog to be a political blog, in spite of the fact that I post on political subjects from time to time. I further consider the modern political convention to be a "made for TV" event (part reality show, part awards show), staged by a political party for the purpose of self-aggrandizement. As such, it could be more clearly defined as a form of political self-stimulation with a goal of political ecstasy as its result. (You know, masturbation. OK, I said it.)  While I have nothing in particular against the concept of such soft-core porn, I like to keep it separated from my politics.

I will therefore not be commenting on the large scale "circle jerks" staged by either party in the coming weeks. If you need me, I will be looking for a good movie to watch in the evening, even if I have to play all of my old DVD's.