California's Prop 14 - Good Intentions, Bad Ida

In one week, Californian's will have a chance to vote on Proposition 14, a proposition that will change the way primary elections are conducted. Essentially, the change would do away with the current practice of Republicans voting for the Republican nominee should be in the general election, and Democrats voting for who they would like the Democratic nominee to be. Instead, there would be one single ballot, with all candidates listed together. Everyone would vote for the candidate they liked best, and the top two vote-getters, no matter who they are, would run against each other in the general election in November. Heck, candidates wouldn't even have to declare their political affiliation.

The idea is that, by allowing us to vote for our favorite candidate, regardless of party, that we will elect more moderate candidates. This would also open the primary to the growing percentage of voters that are registering as Independents.

I am all for getting more people involved in the primaries, but this is not the right way to do it. Political Parties are kind of like clubs, and in the primary, they put forward the person they feel is their best candidate for whatever office is being contended. Why should people that are not members of the club be able to vote for who they think should be the club's leaders? Should Kiwanis be able to vote for the leadership of the Rotary Club? Then why should Democrats be able to vote for who they think the Republican nominee should be, or vice-versa. Besides, if there really was a candidate for another party that you wanted to vote for, you can change your registration any time you want, up to 30 days before the election.

Needless to say, I am encouraging a NO vote on Proposition 14. Democrats can vote for Democrats, Republicans for Republicans, and Greens for Greens. Sure, Independents are still left out in the proverbial cold, but this is not the right way to accommodate them. There are currently two Independents in the US Senate, Bernie Sanders and Joe Lieberman. Both of them choose to caucus with the Democrats. If you really want to allow Independents to participate in the primary process, but still retain their status as Independent, perhaps we should allow Independents to declare in their voter registration who they wish to "caucus" with, and sallow them to vote in that party's primary. The same rules would still apply, any changes to voter registration would have to take place 30 days prior to the election.

It was two years ago that Rush Limbaugh was encouraging his dittoheads to switch party allegiance so that they could vote in the Democratic Primary in states like Pennsylvania in order to prolong the Democrats' primary fight. I thought at the time it was a despicable move. Proposition 14 would make shenanigans like this both easier and more common. Vote NO on Proposition 14.