I've been scratching my glabrous pate lately about the 'jungle primaries' that took place in California, that bizarre 'top two' system that makes one-party elections possible. Everything fell into place for me when I learned that the system was pushed for by then governor Arnold Schwarzenegger- on the face of it, the system sounds like serious Republican ratfucking:
“We want to change the dysfunctional political system and we want to get rid of the paralysis and the partisan bickering,” then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who championed the electoral reform into reality, said in celebrating its approval by California’s voters in 2010. “Those are huge changes that will change everything in the future.”
The reason why he wanted to get rid of partisan bickering is because, in California, the Republican party has slipped to 'third party' status- partisan politics is deadly to a rump party.
The 'top two' primary system can be manipulated by unscrupulous Republicans running fake Democrats or fomenting internecine Democratic squabbling in order to split votes. The whole damn thing is a mess.
For a reliably progressive state, California sure has some insane state laws... I'm looking at YOU, Prop 13! Luckily, the two tier primary system didn't adversely affect the electoral prospects for Democrats this year, but things could have gone differently, as intended by the architects of this bullshit legislation.
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1 comment:
Good analysis. Nice work.
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