Colorado Republicans want to cancel 2022 primary vote

I don't kinow what's good for the Republicans. They seem to be on a trajectory towards "alternative facts", but reality has a way of returning to the scene of the crime. Long live America!

 

They know they can't win if "we, ALL the people, turn out to vote. That's why some Trump supporters advocate for all the new rules to suppress voters they know won't vote. Further, psychologically, people accuse others of things they, themselves, are doing to cast aspersions in the wrong direction. Guess who has been crying "foul ball" since 2016.

 

I fully support getting non-party folks into office. Sounds to me like this is a step by conservatives that are sick of RINOs and establishment insiders to try to get some normal liberty-loving people elected. Which of course means it wont work... the control freaks run the show. But good on em for tryin.

 

wow, republicans saying, we don't care what the people want, were picking for them

 

While I agree 100%, one has to wonder if you have ever not voted for one of the two parties

 

hmmm...so the party officials (i.e. the establishment insiders) are going to pick all of the candidates for offices and you somehow think that is an effort to keep the RINOs and establishment insiders from picking the candidates.

that is some twisted logic

 

Since we have so few LEGIT political threads on here, I'm going to recycle since the Colorado GOP is clearly off the rails. If I see the results of their vote later today, I'll post it...

Meanwhile, here's the news we've all waited to hear....

SNIP

• Mike Pence is making plans for a 2024 presidential run, CNN Politics reported.
  
  
• He has sized up his team, acquired new office space, and recruited a top GOP fundraiser, the media outlet said.
  

ENDSNIP

https://www.yahoo.com/news/donald-trump-cant-thwart-mike-121508154.html

I have the song Pence needs to have playing in the background when he walks on stage to the first debate

"Why can't we be friends"

 

If thats true, then whats changing? Thats how its been working since forever...

 

they used to pretend the people had a voice, now they are not even bothering to stick with that lie

 

Also good. I prefer the enemy that declares themself over the one that claims to be a friend.

 

The enemy in this case is the Duopoly. As long as the nation keeps voting for them, they win

 

I think his campaign will be dead on arrival.

 

Chill out, it’s a political party choosing their candidate. The Denver Broncos don’t let the rest of the NFL choose who’s going to be the QB next Sunday. They’ll listen to their own fans, but sure as hell will not listen to the opponent’s fans.

 

look at the right try to defend this action, lol

 

Which is their right. The question is whether it's wise.

 

Nobody is talking about the opponents fans... this is the equivalent of telling 40% of their own potential fans to consider rooting for Kansas City...

 

Here in Georgia, we just register to vote. Not by party. Everyone has their choice of which primary to vote in. Hence Georgia is an open primary state. In closed primary states, one has to be registered as a member of the party they plan on voting in in the primary. Only registered Republicans can vote in the Republican primary, only registered Democrats in the Democratic primary, those registered as independent, third party or non-affiliated can't vote in either.

Being from Georgia, I don't know anything about Colorado's voting laws. What I do know is each party has their own rules for how the primaries will be run. I believe most states allow each party to make their own rules. I know of no state where the state legislature dictates the rules for how each party will operate their primaries.

Primaries are relative new. Pre-1976 under the old system of choosing candidate you only had 10-15 primaries for president, some of those non-binding. 1976 was the game changer where states went to the primary or caucus system. I'm not sure what the Colorado GOP is trying to do here. But pre-1976 it was each state's party bigwigs who would choose which candidates ran for what offices in the general election. A return to those old days? Perhaps? Party leaders had much more control over the choosing of candidates back then.

I doubt come the general election, it won't make much difference in how the GOP choose their candidates. The first midterm will be a referendum on Biden and the Democratic controlled congress regardless of how the Republicans chose their candidates. Happy with Biden and company, folks will vote Democratic. Dissatisfied or peeved at Biden and company, they'll vote Republican. This is how it works.

 

Final summary is a little simplistic IMHO, but I'd agree with most of that...

But remember that if the GOP approves this plan, which they most likely won't based on the requirement bar, the potential IS there to piss off independents who are used to helping decide candidates. It's one thing to never have the privilege to do something, it's another to have something taken away from you...

 

Decades ago I didn't like the idea of closed primaries. I thought we could get better candidates by opening primaries to independent voters as well as the registered party members. States started accepting that idea, even permitting changes of voter registration to immediately be for primary votes. I now think that was a mistake, we seem to get worse candidates than before. I think primary elections should be limited to registered party members who have been registered for at least 6 months. Let the parties choose their candidates, and leave the greater popular vote to the general elections.

It may not be perfect, but damn, what we have now really, really gives us bad candidates.

 

Okay, that's one position, which I respect. I tend to agree with @Egoboy that people will resent having something taken away from them. Whether that has any long-term effect on their votes remains to be seen, but it's generally not a good idea to piss off the voters.

 

Politics and governance should not be compared to sports team. In sports there is a winner and a loser — when we use this in policy the loser always seems to be the American people.

 

I try to adhere to the KISS principle. Keep it simple, stupid.

 

Voters picking the nominees is the single greatest thing about US electoral politics. In the Westminster system (UK, Canada, Australia, etc) we don't have that. I wish we did.

Our parties tend to put up two faceless bureaucrats who differ on almost nothing, let us pick between them, and call it a day. In both parties there are great potential candidates but they don't get a shoe in the door, I wish the people could choose!

Therefore I oppose this move by the Colorado GOP, though framing it as some assault on democracy would be misguided.

 

The more I think about it, the more I agree with @mswan in #44.

Democracy is something I waver on from time to time. I fully support democratic principles, and every citizen should have a vote. The problem with this is the danger of populism.

I agree with mswan that opening up the vote can and does produce inferior candidates.

I go back and forth with this, and it seems to be somewhat paradoxical. The closest thing we have in the private sector, that I can think of, would be a shareholders' meeting and vote. Totally different animal, yes, and personality surely plays a role with corporate officers, but as we wouldn't leave a company's operating decisions to a vote of the employees, I sometimes wonder if we wouldn't be more successful if candidates were chosen on a basis that didn't involve shmoozing up to the public (and pandering to interest groups)

Cutting people out of the process has plenty of drawbacks, as well, and it does send the wrong message, but if we get better quality candidates, it's worth trying. That's what's good about our system; we can always try something different.

 

I think what you are saying is that this tool (no primaries) in the hands of a group truly committed to improving their state and country could be a very powerful thing. A dedicated group can find the best qualified people to perform the job, regardless of background, sound bites, or..... heaven help us.....looks....

In the hands of today's GOP, it's likely to end up not being trusted by non GOP... much like some people not voting due to the "elections are rigged" crowd....