It is beyond time to eliminate party control of nominees. Every election, the party faithful line up their favorites to choose the one person to serve as their warrior to stand in an election battle against the other in a weirdly unbalanced and limited choosing of our leaders.
Reminds me of the armies of ancient lore choosing one warrior (David vs Goliath, Menelaus and Paris, Achilles and Hector) to fight for the whole.
Problem is, we’re not choosing warriors, we’re choosing leaders, and the dual-party system continues to have a stranglehold on the nominees who are put forth to the electorate, ensuring that who we get to vote for is still stuck in a no-choice or forced choice of the lesser-than-two evils.
To borrow from a previous Public Forum letter, in the 2024 election, 154 million voters voted, 144 million did not. I would say one of the reasons large numbers of voters didn’t vote, is that there’s no choice on who runs for nominations, ultimately leading up to two warring factions separated by a couple of votes, with everyone sidelined who isn’t a party anointed. This does lead to what we have right now in the fight over the BBB. Public lands, health care, government institutions decisions are now decided not by bipartisanship but by the party who can wrest control over the other. In essence, one party is deciding not laws, but the very existence of our institutions.
It is the very nature of who gets to run for nomination with the vast power to nominate within the parties themselves that sets up this dynamic. There is a system we can move to. Open primary ranked voting puts the power of nomination into the voters’ hands. Alaska, Maine and several cities are showing the way.
Mary Hertert, La Sal
Donate to the newsroom now. The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax deductible