Democracy or Oligarchy?
Permalink +Tue, Feb 24, 2004, 6:31 pm // John Servais
Empty and rigged voting system or citizens choosing their representatives? Which will our state legislators choose? The US Supreme Court on Monday made final the requirement that our state legislature must reform our method of primary elections. For all offices - city, county, state and national.For democracy, we want the 'Top Two'- or 'Cajun'- or 'Louisiana'-type primary. The Republican and Democratic party bosses are trying to bully our state legislators into a primary that will favor those two parties. Did you know that your tax dollars support the two parties for meetings and expenses? Yes they do. For caucus expenses and more. The party bosses strut through the hallways of Olympia, subsidized by us taxpayers. Now they want an election system that allows them to keep power. We should tell them to stick it.
With the Cajun system we will give a chance to independents and third parties. We will give a chance to anyone who wants to run for office. A slim chance, but still a chance.
Democracy? A great idea. We are still a long ways from it, but we are closer than in the past. Tell your legislators that they had better vote for the Cajun system. The party bosses will threaten lawsuits and the withholding of party funds to those who dare to vote for democracy. Don't kid yourself that those days are behind us. They are still very much with us. Democracy is still a goal, not a reality. The parties still control the system. A Cajun primary is a small step towards democracy.
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