Notes of Concern….
…Jackson Blair
THE WHOLE PRIMARY THING
PRIMARILY PRIMARY PONTIFICATING
When did the primary system we currently are experiencing
begin? Could it have been at a time when people did not have radio, television
or Internet? Was the current approach to election campaigning developed when
the Pony Express was delivering the mail? Was it not at a time when you could
actually get elected and people in far away states didn’t hear the results for
months? It certainly began at a time when hardly anyone actually visited the
nation’s capital or had any first hand exposure to candidates for office.
Elections occurred in such a vacuum of information that
candidates who today would be considered, well, ugly could actually win an
election. Fortunately, they usually had quite a bit of substance.
Flash forward to today. We still have the same, lame system.
We pretend we need almost a year to get to know the candidates. We pretty
regularly reward the “8x10” glossy attractive types and look askance at less
attractive people who have substance.
Certainly there was a time when candidates needed to traipse
all over the country so that voters could actually see them, hear them and
question them.
There was also a need to “sell” ideas and convince the
people who would gather in halls and parks to hear the candidates that they
were, indeed, the best choice.
Those days are long gone.
Every single candidate for president appears almost daily on
one or more television station. They offer views on the radio. And they have a
constant presence on the Internet. We get robo-calls on our phones and the
local mailman is more and more bent over from all the extra advertisements,
pamphlets and requests for money.
We voters have outstanding opportunities to see, hear and
read about the candidates. We do not need a multi-month, outrageously
expensive, state-by-state travel- intense primary schedule.
The debates (and that is another story of excessiveness)
provide anyone who wishes an opportunity to see a candidate’s style, to watch
the candidate interact with competitors, to view how they dress, comb their
coif, and treat one another. In addition, an occasional policy glimpse is
provided.
For policy “wonks” most candidates provide detailed postings
on their website permitting a careful study of their positions on everything
from nuclear war to their spouse’s favorite recipe for cornpone!
Long ago when a candidate for president campaigned only from
his front porch and refused to be drawn into this kind of stuff I would have
thought him naïve. In those days you had to engage in this kind of circus in
order to provide the people with a fair chance to evaluate candidates.
Today, many would applaud such a decision. Wouldn’t it be
wonderful if every one of our candidates just stayed at home, talked on
television, and posted their positions on all the issues.
There is no longer a reason to charter planes, build an
entourage, run from one state to the other for a gazillion debates, or for the
length of the primary season.
Here is a revolutionary suggestion. I know it will not be
met with widespread support:
Lets have two national primaries!
One for the Republicans to pick their candidate and one for
the Democrats to pick theirs. All persons who wish to be considered for the
nomination will appear in two nationally televised debates occurring two weeks
apart.
Prior to the debates, for one month, each candidate will
post on his website position papers outlining his views on a variety of subjects.
This process would be
completed in 45 days.
The winner of the national primary would be the Party’s
nominee for President. The popular vote would be decisive. No apportioning of
delegates, no smoke filled rooms, just a national poll of all the people. You
could only vote in the primary of the Party with which you registered.
Now in order to let the folks have their “party,” sometimes
known as their presidential convention, they could still meet in a city where
they would anoint their nominee (previously selected by the people) and learn
the candidate’s choice for vice president. They would then affirm that choice
in the customary manner.
Millions of dollars would be saved.
Everyone would still have a “say” in the choice.
Obviously, details would need to be worked out but I bet
that could easily be done. All the “I’s” would get dotted and the “T’s” would
get crossed.
But it is an idea worthy of further discussion.
The circus we now call “national elections” demonstrates a
complete refusal to grasp how our nation has really changed and to adapt to
change.
Bottom line: you don’t have to do it my way but let us at
least get a conversation going as to how to change this silliness.
For further information: jacksonblair@gmail.com
