democracy 2

saw quite an interesting article on the BBC website today, which addresses some of  the issues I discussed yesterday. Dont let the title fool you, its more balanced than it seems.

Heart of the matter is that the primary elections currently ongoing in the US seems to select for the more extreme candidates (if you're not a republican puritan, all the PR power I mentioned before will be turned against you from multiple candidates). That means that the splinter groups at the extreme edges of the US political spectrum are overrated, which might go a long way towards explaining the frequent partisan lockups of government we've been seeing.

California (and a few others) have tried to change this, by allowing ALL registered voters to vote in the primaries (proposition 14 (California, 2010) and initiative 872 (Washington, 2004)). So both Democrates and Republicans get to vote for their favorite candidate, no matter from which party they are. This way the centrists would have an advantage (after all, a democrat will dislike a teaparty candidate more than a centrist, who will therefore pick up the vote of some centrist democratic voters and vice versa), paving the way for a less divisive political environment. The swing voters would enhance this effect dramatically, and the chance for independent candidates would be substantially greater. This sounds great to me! More sane politicians, with less party luggage leads to more pragmatic politics.
So far the bill seems to surviving the legal attacks levelled against it from both parties. Lets see how it holds.


A few of the comments left under the BBC article I started with:

18.
pun_gent 
2ND JANUARY 2012 - 22:26
The NYT nailed this issue by pointing out that a requirement for ideological purity has narrowed the field to those who are either clueless enough to believe the dogma, or those cynical enough to claim they do despite knowing better. 


17.
 Dan S 
2ND JANUARY 2012 - 22:18
The media is anointing the candidates based on their entertainment value rather than their policies.


10.
 Theowyn 
2ND JANUARY 2012 - 21:19
The evangelicals have hijacked the GOP. XXXX XXXXXXXX and his ilk have driven all moderation and reason from the party's discourse.


5.
 Nineva 
2ND JANUARY 2012 - 20:51
I live in the US Midwest, not far from Iowa. This country's politics lacks common sense. People vote against their interests, they're more influenced by ideologies rather than reasoning. US journalists rarely help either, as the reality-show mentality demands reporting outlandish claims as facts.


19.
 Meg 
2ND JANUARY 2012 - 22:29
Unfortunately I am actively embarrassed by the way our election process is "working" this time around. We can't afford to vote for anyone based on their entertainment value, but since the majority seems to be focused on immediate gratification & self-righteousness, it looks like the biggest 'star' will get the job - regardless of their policies or lack of common sense.


66.
 g02 
6 HOURS AGO
this is what a country, even the wealthiest, begins to look like when its educational system declines sharply and access is limited. Fundamentalists & morons thrive in ignorance. Don't give them a cess pool in which to breed, because they will - like wildfire.


Source:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16386176