On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 4:10 PM, Barry Roberts <[email protected]> wrote: > On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 4:07 PM, Jared Ottley <[email protected]> wrote: > >> >> On Jan 18, 2012, at 4:02 PM, Barry Roberts wrote: >> >> > On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 4:01 PM, Richard Esplin >> > <[email protected]>wrote: >> > >> >> The fact you had to register is a big part of the problem. >> >> >> >> On Wednesday January 18 2012 15:48:56 Jason Hall <[email protected]> >> >> wrote: >> >> <snip> >> >>> I registered as gop just to help get bennett out, and now I'm trying >> for >> >> Hatch.. >> >> >> >> Why is that a problem? >> >> Party affiliation should not be required to vote in a primary. If I am an >> independent, I shouldn't be required to register for a party in order to >> vote for/against someone. >> >> > I was assuming Mr. Esplin believes that, my question is why? Why shouldn't > a party be allowed to choose what it thinks is the best candidate? Why > should it be forced to allow its opposition to vote for the weakest > candidate to strengthen their own party?
Well the simplest answer to that lies in who is the representative elected to represent and how does someone form a party and how does one get on the ballot. In Utah to get on the ballot you needs tens of thousands of signatures. So many that there are in some cases more signatures required than there are people in the voting district. To form a political party you need even more. An elected representative is not supposed to be elected to serve his or her party interests, they are supposed to be elected to serve the interests of their constituency. This is why the founding fathers warned us against the formation of political parties. In the United States of America, political parties are supposed to simply be shorthand for a subscribed belief system. That is if I am a democrat I am declaring that I subscribe to one set of beliefs, if I am a republican then I am declaring that I subscribe to a different set of beliefs (although they may not necessarily be mutually exclusive). Regardless of my beliefs, I as an elected representative am supposed to represent the best interests of my constituency, even when they are in conflict with my own personal beliefs. (Note: I am not running for office I am merely declared what ought to be self evident). /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
