Party politics is often underhanded.
Many of our country’s founders knew this all too well, and tried to avoid the factionalism of party politics. But still, two political factions emerged, and our politics has been dominated by two parties ever since.
And believe me, the two insider parties work mightily to rig the system in their favor. The presence of “sore-loser laws” is a case in point.
Now, political parties are private entities. They can choose whomever they want. Ideally, the ballots wouldn’t even list party affiliation. But “sore-loser laws” stretch in the other direction, preventing individuals from running in one party after losing a primary as a candidate for another party.
In this way, the parties use the law to secure their own positions. It has nothing to do with “democracy” or “voting rights,” everything to do with privilege.
In Michigan, whilom New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson ran in the primary as a Republican candidate for the presidency. Now, the Secretary of State is disallowing him from running as a Libertarian. You see, he’d filed some paperwork withdrawing his candidacy three minutes too late last November.
An amusing work-around may be in the offing, with a Texas businessman named Gary Johnson being groomed for the Michigan nomination. Take that, partisan insiders!
But regarding the Secretary of State’s ruling, the Libertarians smell a partisan rat, and are suing. It turns out they may have precedence on their side, since John Anderson had technically run afoul of the same law back in 1980, but nothing had been done to exclude him.
This time, Johnson’s more feared than Anderson was then. And, this time, the Secretary of State is a Republican.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
10 replies on “Sore Insiders”
Gary Johnson wasn’t able to rise to the top as a Republican. If he or Ron Paul is able to become a third party nominee, all he’ll do is take away votes from the good guys and help the bad guys get back in office. This is a fight between good and evil. There is no evidence that Democrats are anything but evil Marxist/socialsts and their useful idiots. Republicans have many problems and it is much, much harder to be a really good person. What needs to happen is good people, if as you say Gary Johnson (or Ron Paul) is a good person, he should be doing all he can to help the Republican party instead of trying to hurt it.
Having said that, I understand Mitt Romney is not the perfect candidate and will probably not “end the fed” or anything close. However, it took 100 years for the Marxist/socialists (so-called progressives) to take over this country. The least we can do is exhibit that much patience, don’t you think?
May I remind ‘Dagney’ that the Republican Party was once a Third Party!
Doug: What does that have to do with the current situation we’re in right now? There is no third party with enough viability to evenly take away votes from the two major parties. Votes for the Libertarian, Constitution, and any other party we “good” people want to start up will only dilute our ability to throw the Marxists out of office. When push comes to shove, the Green, the Socialist and Marxist parties in this country vote with the Democrats. That cohesion is desparately needed on our side to keep evil at bay, don’t you think?
Dagney’s got the common sense, and as has been the case for a while now, Paul Jacob does not.
This isn’t a tough call: Obama has to go.
The good-versus-evil argument is absurd. The idea that the GOP is basically good is hope without evidence. And though I despise Obama and his minions, I see no reason to believe that Romney would actually improve anything.
The fool wants to increase the size of the military immensely, and apparently is even more a warmonger than is Obama. He possesses neither the brain power nor the moral capital to take on the problems of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, much less Obamacare — he being the name behind its prototype, Romneycare — and so the debt problem will continue.
And if America’s finances implode under a Romney administration, Americans will impute to “the free market” the errors of too much government. And you supporters of the Republican Party as the only viable alternative to disastrous “progressivism” will be as responsible for the utter ruination of the country as your enemies, the “evil” Democrats.
How much time do you think we have? What do you think must be done? Why do you think an empty suit like Romney will do any of what is needed? Why do you keep finding yourself supporting utter ninnies like Bush, Bush, and Romney?
What makes Romney one of the good guys? What is good about him? See if you can answer without mentioning the name “Obama.”
So, 4 more years of the America-hating Obama circumventing the Constitution is going to be better than Romney? That will be what happens if people do not coalesce around the Republican candidate. Then, you can be sure, that there will be no more Constitution after that 4 years. Yes, we are on the precipice and this is the most important election in our lifetime and, maybe, in the history of this country. No matter what, Obama must never win again. Don’t make it easy for him. You are a fool if you do.
I don’t understand the “America-hating” thing. Obama may hate personal freedom and individual responsibility — all progressives do, despite occasional pretenses otherwise — but what has he done to prove he hates America? Pushed through Obamacare? Belatedly come out of the closet for gay marriage? Bombed Libya and postponed withdrawal from other Mid-East countries? None of that is “hating America.” Arguably, he loves his vision of America, and wants to impose it on us.
But of course he dislikes the Constitution, like all progressives do. But then, the Constitution has been pretty near a dead letter for a hundred years, thanks to Republicans and Democrats working together to subvert it.
That all being said, I can see the point of voting for Romney. But it is not much of a point.
The Republican Party is filled with all sorts of foolishness and and many cadres of poltroons. I went to my county GOP convention, and there did my best to fight off a huge percentage of protectionists and nativist bigots in their attempts to subvert freedom for all sorts of idiotic reasons. It was a disgusting conclave of know-nothing xenophobia and classism. A nice bunch of people, I’m sure — until you get them talking politics, and then they sound as bad as Democrats — well, at least a good third of them did.
And they were the folks pushing Santorum and Romney.
I’ll give the “mainstreamers” this, though: They were amenable to some free-market notions, and tended to vote down the worst protectionist nonsense — you know, the witless “keep American oil in America” silliness promoted by Fox’s two most popular talking heads.
If the kinds of anti-trust practices of the Repulicrat Cartel were perpetrated by Ford and General Motors, every Ford and General Motors board member, executive, senior, mid-level and junior manager, shop-steward and UAW apparatchik would be in prison serving a very long sentence.
Except that Buraq’s Gang’s gangster government said it was OK for Ford and GM, too.