Tag: Krist Novoselic

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ballot access national politics & policies political challengers

Question 5 Fixes Flaw

fairvote, Krist Novoselic, Nirvana, voting, democracy, illustration

This week, Krist Novoselic, rock-​n-​roll bassist of Nirvana fame and fellow board member of FairVote​.org, appeared on Fox Business’s Kennedy to explain ranked choice voting.

Krist compared a single ranked ballot under the proposed system to two ballots under the current method. Often, a voter will mark the ballot for one candidate in the primary, and, if the candidate doesn’t make the cut, for another in the general election.

Ranked choice voting sort of collapses multi-​candidate primaries and the shorter list of the general election into one, allowing voters to rank their choices so that when their first choice doesn’t make it, their less valued candidates get counted.

So if you prefer a candidate unlikely to win you aren’t “wasting” your vote by marking that candidate first, as today in most American elections, because your vote goes to your second choice.

The current system encourages “strategic voting,” where we deny our preferences to work around the defects of the electoral system. We end up voting for candidates we do not like, to avoid even worse, promoting mediocre and downright bad elected officials.

In Maine, Question 5 on the November ballot, sets up a ranked-​choice ballot system for “the offices of United States Senator, United States Representative to Congress, Governor, State Senator and State Representative for elections held on or after January 1, 2018.” It has a not insignificant amount of support, from Mainers across the political spectrum.

But not from the state’s governor (and voicemail-​performance-​artist) Paul Le Page. He dubs it a way for “loser” candidates to get a “second chance.”

Just like a politician! He focuses on politicians’ chances not voters’ options.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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fairvote, Krist Novoselic, Nirvana, voting, democracy, illustration

 

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ideological culture media and media people nannyism national politics & policies Regulating Protest too much government U.S. Constitution

The Long Road to Citizens United

Krist Novoselic, Citizens United, free speech, fairvote.org

Everybody is familiar with the standard theory regarding the Citizens United decision. Former comedian and current earnest socialist Sarah Silverman puts it this way: “Every politician takes money from Big Money, ever since it was made legal with Citizens United.”

Like most folks who talk this way, she doesn’t give a squeak of context. She barely even indicates that it was a Supreme Court case, 2010’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. She does not mention at all that the ruling overturned the FEC’s act of suppressing a political movie.

But there is a much wider context than such bare facts — and if you want a good synopsis, you could hardly do better than read my friend Krist Novoselic’s calm, reasoned “look at the history of attempts to regulate independent campaign expenditures.”

This “modern history” started with what the New York Times called Richard Nixon’s “revolution in political financing.” The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 “required detailed disclosure of campaign contributions; set campaign contribution limits to candidates, parties and committees; set expenditure limits on campaigns, independent groups and individuals and created the first public financing of presidential campaigns and national conventions.”

And almost immediately the law began suppressing political speech and advertising. And led to a long series of court cases.

And decisions.

And revisions.

That define our times.

Krist (with whom I serve on the board of FairVote​.org) provides the context you need to see through what he aptly calls “the hype” about “Citizens United,” as well as how the decision correctly removed the license given to the FEC’s role as “state censorship board.”

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Krist Novoselic, Citizens United, free speech, fairvote.org

 

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video

Video: Krist Novoselic on reason​.tv

Fascinating interview with Krist, former bassist for Nirvana, current chairman of FairVote:

Note, Paul Jacob also serves on the board of FairVote.

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video

Video: The Very Idea of a Fair Vote

Insiders sew up elections by stitching up bizarre voting districts. What can be done?

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ballot access local leaders

Grange Party and Grunge Vote

A few weeks ago, a rock bassist, Krist Novoselic of Nirvana fame, signed up to run for the clerk position in his small, rural county in Washington state. Now that he’s withdrawn his candidacy, it is worth looking at what he was trying to accomplish.

Novoselic ran under the Grange Party — not the “Grunge Party.” Next to his name on the ballot it would have appeared “prefers Grange Party” had he continued the campaign.

But there is no “Grange Party.” The Grange is a farmers’ association that endorses, but does not run, candidates.

He ran to demonstrate a flaw in Washington state’s “Top Two Primary” system. A person can run as “preferring” any political party — imaginary, defunct, or alive and kicking. The identified party has nothing to say about it. Lyndon LaRouche could’ve run as “preferring Democrat” without any Democratic organization’s vote; David Duke could run as “preferring Republican” without one drop of support from any GOP affiliate.

This offends Novoselic’s support for free association. Party affiliation and participation should mean something, he believes. In fact, he supports firehouse primaries wherein the parties pay for their own nominating procedures.

Before he withdrew, Novoselic got a fair amount of media attention. His stunt may actually effect a change for the good in the Evergreen state. 

We could use more celebrities who are as thoughtful as Novoselic about the means of politics, not just the ends.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.