It’s Broken!

Last Saturday’s Nevada caucus was a comedy of errors. The Republicans were straightforward about theirs being closed, but the Democrats tried to have their cake and eat it, too, by falsely advertising that independents such as myself could register Democrat just long enough to participate. I stood in three different lines to come as close as completing a registration form (there was no acknowledgment of my already being a registered voter) changing my party affiliation until the precinct captain (erroneously, I think) declared that such was permanent and not temporary. Not wishing to become a Democrat (or Republican) for life, I tore the form up and sat in the middle school courtyard until Mary finished what the two of us had set out to do: support the candidacy of Barak Obama. The experience confirmed my belief that our political process is fundamentally flawed, right down to the grassroots. I join those who feel that there should be one national primary and one national election based upon the popular vote and not upon the Electoral College. If the Democrats and Republicans want to persist in their exclusive practices, that’s their business, but don’t deny my right as a United States citizen to campaign and vote for whomever I independently choose.