Yes, my dears, California now has a budget. So what happened? Abel Maldonado got his silly “open primary” (Or did he? It first has to be approved by us the voters in 2010… Hehe.) so he can run for Controller. Some environmental laws have been weakened or delayed so people can die and big polluters can do nothing about it. Cuts, cuts, cuts are everywhere, but big corporations can still enjoy their ridiculously generous tax breaks while all the rest of us suffer.
Happy now, Republicans? We got it now. You’re willing to f**k with all of our lives so that you can please the ghost of Howard Jarvis and your many big money contributors. Whoo-hoo.
So what can we do now? Well, let’s start with Dan’s good idea. Sign the Courage Campaign petition and start the campaign to end these constant hostile (or is that HOSTAGE?) budget “negotiations”. It’s time to put an end to the “Republican veto” that they keep abusing so they can stick it to us.
Open primaries are a boon to the GOP and a huge barrier for progressives. Here’s why they’re such a terrible idea:
1) The potentially positive effect of Indies choosing a more progressive candidate in the Dem primaries is hugely outweighed by the negative effect of crossover Republicans deliberately spoiling the chances of our best progressive candidates. Rush Limbaugh has some 20 million listeners, and he specifically directed his brainless followers last year to crossover and vote for who he thought was the Dems’ worst (most easily beat) candidate. States with closed elections showed increases in Dem party enrollment. This is not even a “hint, hint†strategy, it’s blatantly destructive of the election process and hinders our party in every state that allows it, especially in the South.
2) People are more inspired to vote if they’re acting out of negativity. It’s sad, but true, and is why wedge issues work so well for the right wing. (â€Go vote against that liberal candidate who supports baby killers and queers,†is a much more motivating message than “Here’s our Repub candidate, he’s a good guy, please don’t notice that he’s funded by big oil or war profiteers…â€). Last year, we saw this in action when the GOP realized they couldn’t even get their people to the polls for the primary, so they engineered a huge GOTV effort to vote against us in our Dem primaries. The GOP has nothing to stand on anymore, they have deserted what few enlightened goals their party used to represent (e.g.: small, efficient government). Their only chance of coming back into power is to attack and destroy the left. Open primaries give them a tool to do just that, because their own candidates are not inspiring or motivating enough to get their voters to the polls. Our candidates, on the other hand, get them talking about politics and calling in to talk radio and reading right wing blogs, etc. etc.
3) Encouraging voting for the right wing’s idea of our “worst†candidate (which is actually the best candidate for most progressives) is a blatant attack on our party and it’s beliefs. But even worse, it denigrates the entire democratic process. It not only forces centrists on us, it turns our elections into a joke, with the “politics of distraction†succeeding over the concept of personal responsibility for our government. Remember also that until last year, our biggest problem was just getting our side to vote.
4) The right wing cheats more than our side does. Try to get a bunch of liberals to register as Republicans and you’ll see what I mean. On the other hand, open elections are a winning strategy for the GOP.
The potential for abuse by our opponents is greater than the opportunity to benefit from Indies voting more left wing. Repubs are lemmings; too many of them do what their leaders (Limbaugh) tell them to do. Anger at lefties and hatred of what we stand for drives them to vote far more than their pathetic candidates, so spoiling our primary elections is more motivating than their Party’s stated goals. All in all, the potential danger to progressive goals and even to our democratic system hugely outweighs any good that can come from the possibility that Indies could swing our party more left.