There are ballot measures in Washington and California (and perhaps other states) that would create open primaries. There would be a slate of candidates in the primary and the top two or perhaps three would be in the general election-no matter what their party affiliation. The current parties, especially the top two are screaming bloody murder. “This will be the end of life as we know it.” Maybe it will be. Something tells me that the world will keep spinning. You could find yourself voting between two Republicans or two Democrats. Sooooooooooooo…….I’m not seeing a really big difference in a lot of cases.
The mainline parties are like the big kids who’ve taken over the play area in the park. The rest of us stand around on the sidelines hoping that we’ll be invited in to play. Trouble is we have to play by their rules and keep hoping that if we play their games by their rules, we’ll eventually be allowed to play ours. Boys and girls, it ain’t gonna happen.
Several of the sites I have linked to my journal could be considered or definitely are liberal or progressive. Somehow we have to pull the rest of us together. The open primaries could allow coalitions of feminists, educators, basically everybody who isn’t a white, middle-aged, male, lawyer or business major to have more influence in how the country is run.
We have to pull together on a local level. Gee, I guess I’m basically calling for a second revolution. A lot of good has come out the government on the federal level. Trouble is, getting the hearts and minds as the local level to follow is the problem and divisive attitudes encouraged in the last forty years or so aren’t helping.
There was a story in the local Eugene paper this morning about two groups (Republican and Democrat) doing public demonstrations-side by side. The story is a little confused. Somehow punches got thrown, the cops got called, each side accuses the other of starting it. Near as I can tell, everyone involved is over the age of 50. Now, if they were10, we could send them to bed without any supper and hope they’d learn to behave. I sat there over my breakfast, just shaking my head. Please let me know there’s hope.
5 hours ago
2 comments:
I do not know how to let you know if there is hope, because I have a hard time finding hope.
Major effective changes does need to take place at the grass root level, I do know this. That is the major probably in Iraq today. It all makes me sick. The two party are so divided, and I am one of them. There is nothing that can be said that would make me vote for George Bush, knowing this, and thinking that this may be the way the other side feels, makes me sad, because it is officially a "stand off." Everyone always loses something in a stand off. Always!
Yeah, I voted for the open primaries. It was tough decision but I tend to register Independent and I feel like I'm left out when the primaries come around. When I put in my change of address this year, I actually registered Democrat because I couldn't remember which election I couldn't cross party lines. I think it would be great to open it up. :-) ---Robbie
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