Caucuses and Primaries

31 January 2008

Listening to all the media coverage of the ongoing caucuses and primaries caused me to wonder: what is a caucus, what is a primary, and what is their importance to the election process.
The first definition of a caucus in the American Heritage dictionary is, “a meeting of the local members of a political party especially to select delegates to a convention or register preferences for candidates running for office.” So it is a members only way of selecting delegates for the convention of a particular political party. In Washington State, members of the Republican party are required to take an oath—“I declare that I am a member of the Republican party and I have not participated and will not participate in the 2008 precinct caucus or convention system of any other part”, after which they are sequestered in a meeting to choose their delegates. Members of the Democratic party take a similar oath—“I declare that I consider myself to be a Democrat and I will not participate in the nomination process of any other political party for the 2008 Presidential election,” and are likewise sequestered. Since they are private organizations this is a perfectly justifiable method of choosing delegates for their private conventions.
The American Heritage dictionary defines a direct primary as “a preliminary election in which a party's candidates for public office are nominated by direct vote of the people.” In the case of a primary, the people’s vote determines the candidates for each party. It is my understanding that the Republican Party will be assigning 51% of their delegate votes on the basis of the primary this year. The Democrat Party will not use the primary results for assigning any of their delegate votes
I have no problem with a private organization choosing who should represent it. If that is so, then we only need a caucus system. Under the original American system of a constitutional republic, it is the sovereign independent citizen that chooses his or her representatives. The current democratic system, which we have fallen into, subjects us to the political agendas of special interest groups and corporate sponsorship of candidates, denying the individual any true voice in the process, resulting in an election season that is little more than a popularity contest based on each candidate vying to say the loudest “ask not what you can do for yourselves but what I can do for you.” We are deceived and comforted by the idea that Big Brother is watching out for us and cares what happens to us, all the while we are being manipulated into doing what is good for those who want to stay in power, not what is lawful or based upon principles of true government. Horatio Seymour said that "the merit of our Constitution was, not that it promotes democracy, but checks it."
In Washington State, the primary system has become little more that an unofficial caucus. Instead of an open election, where the individual chooses who he or she thinks best represents them, we must choose a party and can only vote for that party’s candidates. Or we can be independent and vote for other candidates other that the two major parties. My question is this—why do we have both methods? Do the people choose in open election, or do parties choose in private meetings? What about third parties? Does this system work to open up the “free marketplace of ideas” or does it suppress true political freedom? The answer comes back to Power, and staying in Power, at the cost of destroying the very Constitution that guarantees freedom to choose. It is interesting that the United States Constitution does not mention political parties. Period. They are not a necessary part of choosing representatives. We do not need them.
What can you do to fix the problem? Ask your state legislators to begin working on restoring the open primary process. Vote in every election. Vote according to your conscience not your fear, not for party affiliation. Research what a candidate believes is the proper role of government and vote accordingly. Write letters to the editors of your local newspapers. Talk to everyone you know about the importance of being a part of the constitutional process of choosing representatives. Educate yourself on what is constitutional and what is not. It is time for the sovereign citizen of the United States of America to take back the God-given right to choose his or her own representatives, not a party representative.