How a minority party holds on to power.
 

The Republicans have been able to hold on to more power in congress than their numbers would indicate. They do this by working the system. But inevitably the time is coming when even that won't be enough.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert...usaolp00000592

continue

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...young/?hpid=z2

Another poll showing how poorly the GOP is doing.

I was fixin' to go vote in the primaries today, until I read in todays paper that as an independent, I cannot vote. Seems the primaries are rigged such that you can only vote if you declare a party on your registration.

So much for democracy. The two parties pick a candidate and you get to pick among only their choices.

I think closed primaries should be illegal.

I don't see how it passes the constitutionality test.

I'm not seeing that either, but this is Kansas and the only constitutional protections we have here is guns.

In fairness, the primaries are specifically to pick each parties' candidate.

Pete

So why are the taxpayer funded?

Politics today... not representing the people, representing the party.

Seeing as the 2 parties control government it doesn't surprise me!

According to my dad, there used to be a box you could check at the top of the ballot to vote a straight ticket.

Pete

I see a parallel in the Republican's holding onto legislative power and the Slavocracy doing the same executively.

So fucking what?

That means that someone who doesn't feel like declaring a political when they register gets absolutely no chance for input into the process until the field has been narrowed down to two candidates. I think that's fucked up.

I'm agreeing with ya Tom.

There should be one open primary and the top two finishers should face each other in the general election.

That would certainly be an improvement over what we have now.

The constitution has a simple structure. It provides for states to choose representatives that come to Washington. Primaries are therefore state animals, not federal.

At least that is the way I understand it.

True that. The jury's still out on open primaries in my book. We have them here.

Primary elections are things that few voters understand. At least that is my opinion. It was not until law school that I began to understand what was going on.

Before that I relied on friends and media to tell me when to vote. I did not appreciate that during a primary the person that I voted for was not necessarily the person that ultimately occupied a desk in office.

Looking back the process is fairly simple. But before law school I had bigger things to worry about. Things like mowing the yard, getting things done for customers, etc. I never took the time to understand the difference between primary and general elections. Even if I did want to take the time, I don't know that I would have known how to do the research.

As long as it's Aussie style. :)

Other party candidates can run. Proportional representation works very well in Italy?

Pete