3 ms·

> Especially in primaries The primaries are your problem - those are crazy. Why does the government run voting for the representatives of private political par

• pessimizer 4y ago
  Because they're not actually political parties like other countries have; they have no memberships, they have employees. You can't join e.g. the Democratic party and start paying dues, instead you declare your Democratic party allegiance to the government, and it allows you to participate in the selection of the Democratic party candidate. The two major parties created this situation through state and local legislation. It's absolutely bizarre that two private organizations who are responsible to no one but themselves have inextricably and exclusively bound themselves to the operation of US government. They avoided any constitutional questions by legislating locally instead of federally. I don't see how that's meant to be superior to a single-party communist system. Is adding a "primary" step so much more democratic than just putting all of the primary candidates into a single election?
  • femto 4y ago
    If they are private organisations, wouldn't it be fun if they could be hauled before the Federal Trade Commission? :-)
    • giantg2 4y ago
      Now this guy's thinking.
  • chrisseaton 4y ago
    > you declare your … party allegiance to the government Do Americans realise how insane this sounds?
    • giantg2 4y ago
      Why? The main reason this is done is to facilitate closed primary voting so the members of other parties can't interfere with the primary voting. Once you get to the main election, party doesn't matter. Perhaps the word allegiance is too strong. People do switch parties (including candidates), some "neutral" candidates like judges can cross register as both parties, and voters in the main election can vote for anyone.
      • chrisseaton 4y ago
        > Why? Seems contrary to secret voting? If someone in the government wanted to round up many supporters of party X they have a database. > this is done is to facilitate closed primary voting Why is the government facilitating how political parties pick who represents them? Isn’t that a private matter? How do you think this works in other countries? Parties have their own, private, lists, not shared with other parties or the government, so that you can support a party in private.
        • giantg2 4y ago
          "Seems contrary to secret voting? If someone in the government wanted to round up many supporters of party X they have a database." Just because you register one way doesn't mean you always vote on party lines. There might not be as much concern with being rounded up with an armed population. "Why is the government facilitating how political parties pick who represents them? Isn’t that a private matter?" I'd imagine because you needed voting locations prior to the technology today. It was convenient to use the same infrastructure as for the regular vote. "How do you think this works in other countries? Parties have their own, private, lists, not shared with other parties or the government, so that you can support a party in private." How do the choose the party representatives? Or does that fall to the aristocrats of the party?
          • chrisseaton 4y ago
            > How do the choose the party representatives? Entirely up to them - postal voting in practice. The government keeps out of it.