Posted on 10/09/2002 3:31:58 PM PDT by CFW
Frankly Speaking
For once, I agree with the McKinneys
We Southern ladies and gentlemen are required to look for areas of agreement with those whom we disagree. That is one of the meanings of love your enemies.
Therefore, it is with great pleasure that I announce that I agree with Rep. McKinneys latest statements. The McKinneys, father and daughter, have soundly criticized Georgias political system that allowed Republicans to vote in the Democratic Primary. It was this crossover voting that helped remove them from office.
Now dont get me wrong. I am thrilled that they have been eliminated from the state and national legislatures. The McKinneys have been a source of embarrassment for Georgia for many years, and we are much better off without them. But when they are right, we need to acknowledge their correctness.
Any political party is a private organization. Each party has its own bylaws that determines who is eligible for membership. They exist for the purpose of influencing political opinion and electing people who reflect their opinions.
As a private organization, each party should have the right to determine eligibility for membership. It should have the right to choose those candidates it wishes to support. This process should be free of outside interference.
But in Georgia, the two major parties have been rolled into the states election and governing process. In other words, the Democrats and Republicans are no longer private, independent political bodies. They are now part of the state government. State law requires that taxpayers support the party primaries. State rules determine who can vote in those primaries, and who is eligible to run for office. That is wrong for two reasons.
First, the two major parties are no longer private organizations. They have lost their independence. They cant even determine their own membership.
Second, the system shuts out any other political organization from any chance of electing their candidates. It is virtually impossible for anyone who is not a member of one of the two major parties to be elected. In most cases, minor party and independent candidates cannot even get on the ballot!.
This year, the two best organized minor parties, the Libertarians and the Greens, attempted to place numerous candidates on the ballot. A tiny percentage of them were successful. Most were shut out by Georgias ballot restrictions. In many cases, we go into the November elections with only one candidate on the ballot. In many cases, Libertarian or Green candidates tried to gain ballot access and were denied. In these cases We the people are left with no choice.
Billie McKinney is right. The Republicans should not have been allowed to vote against him or his daughter in the Democratic primary. Nor should Democrats have been allowed to vote against Bob Barr in the Republican primary.
I now have found a point of agreement with the McKinneys. I feel better about that. Now, I can start looking for some way to agree with Barbara Streisand. Boy, that will be hard to do!
Frank Gillispie is founder of The Madison County Journal. His web page can be accessed at www.mcga.net. His e-mail address is frankg@mcga.net.
Hey, Cynthia! It wasn't the Tribe! They didn't even make the playoffs this year.
Oh, those Indians...
Bump
I don't think he is. Voters should be allowed to vote for whom they please, both in primaries and in general elections. If a candidate fears the votes of those who disagree with him/her, the answer is plain: persuade those voters to change their minds.
I have no problem whatever with crossover voting, regardless of the identity or affiliation of its victims. (As long as the ballots themselves are cast lawfully, of course).
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