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Current primary system favors rich, not voters
Letter to editor
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Editor, Attack politics, both inter- and intraparty, are as old as this republic. United States history, however, repeatedly demonstrates that what one chooses to attack has often been the bane of the attacker as well as the attacked.
Nevertheless, coupled with recent violations of Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment from Iowa onward, conventional wisdom would suggest that none of the Republican candidates had never before run for office. But maybe not.
It does seem that the intraparty ferocity has begun earlier than usual. If so, why? I believe that the answer lies, in part, with our primary election process. It absolutely favors wealthy candidates. The first primaries with a significant number of voters, and which offer more than a handful of delegates, are the third primary in South Carolina and the fourth in Florida.
Thinly-resourced candidates are forced to blow huge sums of precious contributions on, at best, pyrrhic victories in useless races in Iowa and New Hampshire. So, in desperation, these underfunded candidates are forced to take more aggressive stances and risk offending the tender sensibilities of voters.
Clearly, 70 percent of Republicans do not like one of the rich candidates. Is he going to be crammed down Republican throats by the force of his money and the minority of establishment party hacks? That is the sure-fire result of our present primary system. The candidate in question is said to have electability. His electability is only a function of his money and the inevitability provided the rich by our primary system, not the quality of the candidate.
But what of voter sensibilities? Politics is a tough business at best. Shouldn’t we be more concerned about what serves the voters the best? Shouldn’t we be concerned with the inequity of the present primary system? Why not have a National Primary Election Day to lessen the inequities of personal wealth? Perhaps we would hear more on the issues and more readily identify the best candidates. Let’s at least impede rich men from buying elections.
Too late for this year, but we need a change. Think about it. Maybe the Tea Party will?

— Mike and Robyn Steele, Midway

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