The Problem with Our Current Primary System [View all]
A common argument by Centrist Dems on this board is that, if progressives want more representation, then progressives need run for office. Sounds logical on paper but in practice, the decks are stacked against anyone other than who the Party Bosses have already pre-selected.
My first clue to how all this works was in the 2003/2004 Presidential primaries in California. At the time, I was an enthusiastic and active supporter of Howard Dean. I also live in a purple section of California which is relevant to the subject. Let’s just say the state and national Democratic Parties can only find us using Google Maps. They certainly don’t EVER come to our neck of the woods. When Dean was getting HUGE, and I mean HUGE support all over the state (I know, I was all over the state campaigning) and Kerry was getting almost none, all of a sudden the Party Bosses, State and National, descended upon us. They wanted to know WHY Dean was so popular, what could “we” do to get more people to support Kerry (who had just voted “yes” on the IWR), etc. Iow, they were INTERVENING in what should have been a party-neutral activity. Later on, there was an ad in the early primary states comparing Dean with Osama bin Laden that did NOT come from the Republican party. Then, miraculously, there was a uni-directional mike on Dean which picked up ONLY Dean and NOT the audience, then played it on a loop over and over and over again and labeled it the “Dean Scream.” Wonder how that happened?
The other problem, of course, is that primaries are held in such as way as to give disproportional representation to the early primary states and often establishing candidates before the rest of the country even gets a chance to vote. The system was purposely set up so the parties could establish a candidate early on in order to prepare for the General Election. In other words, the system was set up for expediency sake and not for the sake of the electorate and a true Democratic process.
IF the primary process were to run UNIMPEEDED by the Democratic Party, AND, all primaries were held on the same day, all other things being equal, the primaries would absolutely be a legitimate solution to get more progressives elected. As it stands though, the deck is stacked against any candidate who chooses to run outside of the Party ideology leaving us with the milquetoast “centrists” candidates/representatives who will go along with the Party, no matter how badly the poor and middle class are decimated.
If we want change, I believe we need to start by changing the current primary process.
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