What's the purpose of a political party? And what's the purpose of primary elections for political parties?

In North Carolina, the political climate is quite interesting right now. For those who don't know, the state has been run completely by Democrats basically since reconstruction. The State Senate has NEVER been run by Republicans. The State House and governor's mansion have only been run by Republicans about twice. Therefore, all the rules have been made by Democrats.

These rules include serious gerrymandering of the districts to ensure that Republicans will have great difficulty ever gaining a majority in either house. These rules also ensure there is little competition from others, not allowing any other political parties, other than Republican or Democrat. There's also rules so that judges cannot run by party affiliation (because too many Republicans were winning judges seats).

This has made things very difficult for those who support any ideas other than those supported by Democrats, who continue their standard tactic: raise taxes every single year, and spend enormous piles of money every single year (with massive increases every year).

In the last couple years, the Republican Party has changed. Basically, half of the party has decided they want to get elected, so they go along with and support Democrats. I'm not completely sure why these people don't just change their party affiliation to Democrat (and a couple have), other than that they won't get elected in some districts without an (R) after their name.

The other half has decided that they don't want to be Democrats and instead would like to be different. They'd like to support conservative ideas instead of the liberal ones Democrats support. And this has caused major problems in the Republican Party.

You can see this effect in the various primary races across the state. There are a large number of challengers in various districts for state house and senate races where the theme seems to be -- "Do you support Richard Morgan?"

So, who should decide the outcome here? Should the currently elected Republicans decide who and how the Republican Party should proceed? Or should the voters decide? In my view, that's what the primary elections are for -- so that the members of the political party can decide which people they want to represent them, and how the party will proceed.

Much may be determined after the primary election this year. Leaders of the Republican Party are working against current Republican elected officials, trying to unseat them for working against the party -- but the end result will be who shows up and votes on May 2nd.

Many of the Democrat-supporter incumbents are likely to win -- but some might fall to more conservative challengers. It may be a long process over a number of years before some fall -- or they might not fall, with most voters deciding that they'd rather have people who bring them presents back from Raleigh, rather than statesmen.

Unfortunately, no matter the results, the Democrats are highly likely to remain in power -- gerrymandering is a very powerful tool. So it's likely that the North Carolina government will continue down it's long, painful path towards socialism. The only real question is will they go very fast, with elected Republicans helping Democrats, or will they go slower, with conservatives trying to slow the Democrats down the road?

After all, no other political parties are legal in North Carolina, so your only other option -- the one that the majority seem to be taking -- is just to ignore them all and try and get on with your life, despite them.

Posted by: Ogre at 11:47 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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