Republican Party Corrupts Primary Elections

Here in Wisconsin, the Republican Party holds a nominating convention in May and the partisan primary on September 12, a short time before the November 7 Election. The result is that the party bigwigs often choose candidates before voters cast a vote. The primary then becomes a waste of time and money for voters and taxpayers.

This doesn’t always work. In 1978 the Wisconsin Republican Party picked Bob Kasten to be their candidate for Governor at their convention, attempting to shut out Lee Dreyfus. The big money was for Kasten, the part apparatus was for Kasten; Party Ads were for Kasten. The Dreyfus campaign had relatively little money but managed to make their “people’s candidate” the victor in the fall Republican primary AND the governor’s race.

This year, at the convention in Appleton, WI, the national level party bosses put their imprimatur on John Gard for the House of Representatives, undermining other legitimate candidates. This attempt to shut out other candidates is another example of how political parties undermine the election process. They first insist on partisan primaries and then nullify the primary in advance.

To make the process a little more democratic, the primaries need to be held before the convention, otherwise, they can easily be a farce. At present, it is not the will of the partisan voters, but the will of the party bosses.

The Democratic Party is not innocent when it comes to imposing from high, policies that are contrary to good principles of democracy. In either party, if a congressional member opposes an official party stand, the wrath can be devastating. The party comes before constituents.

For now, the Republican Party has demonstrated that it deserves a failing grade on the practice of democracy.