Four Republican backbencher candidates who failed to qualify for the first 2024 GOP presidential debate this week slammed the Republican National Committee over its rules, with multiple contenders calling them “rigged.”
Political parties exist for the sole purpose of rigging politics by disenfranchising the public. Their entire existence is a kind of corrupt, elitist caste system.
These organizations need to be treated the same way as corporations that get too big: they should forcibly split up. Force parties to form coalitions to get anything done, like in other parliamentary systems. Take away their corrupt levers - like FPTP voting (force RCV instead) and dark money, and return power to the people instead tolerating it in the hands of a couple private, invite-only cabals.
Political parties should be outlawed, not just split up. It should be a crime to include a party affiliation next to a candidate’s name on a ballot. (Or an indication of which is the incumbent, for that matter.)
The issue I always find in the proposal to ban political parties is: how do you stop people from just reinventing them under a different name?
It absolutely would happen. Even if we somehow wiped the idea from everyone’s mind, people would start to group up again because it’s simply more effective than going it alone. We learned that as a species a long time ago.
Yes, like Seattle Seahawks, or Chicago Bears…
Politics really would become a contest between sports teams.
Obviously, you can’t stop people from freely associating (see the First Amendment).
But that’s not what’s important. What’s important is that the current two major political parties have been given a whole bunch of special privileges that make them quasi-official parts of the government, and all those need to be permanently stripped away.
I fully agree. This vote by tribe sht HAS to stop. Humanity SHOULD be better than fcking tribal yawping.
As much as I am against the two-party system I am not in favor of sacrificing our right to assembly, especially in the context of assembling over shared politics, on the altar of “hopefully that’ll make elections go better.”
I made zero statements about restricting peoples’ speech. Merely that humanity should be more intelligent than basic tribalism.
If a basic competency test offends you, I really do not know what to say…
No one has mentioned overt political gatekeeping. Just basic competency that we ask of all citizens. If that is too much to ask, then I’m afraid you have no idea what contributes to a competent leader…
To make political parties illegal is an attack on free-speech and the right to peaceful assembly. You would have to directly violate the first amendment in order to ban political parties.
I hope you are not being literal with your concept of a “competency test.”
We also need to change the voting system too. Approval voting is ideal for a no-party system. All candidates getting approved by some min number of people get elected.
Elder … said he intended to file an emergency lawsuit to halt the debate from taking place. Businessman Perry Johnson, another GOP candidate, also said he intends to take legal action against the RNC.
I am wholly unclear on how there’s any grounds to litigate about the RNC running a debate. Political parties and their internal operations around how they run their own debates isn’t covered by any law, is it?
I was curious and it turns out that the FEC does have regulation regarding public debates.
The part that would be relevant doesn’t seem to apply, though:
c. Criteria for candidate selection.
For all debates, staging organization(s) must use pre-established objective criteria to determine which candidates may participate in a debate. For general election debates, staging organizations(s) shall not use nomination by a particular political party as the sole objective criterion to determine whether to include a candidate in a debate. For debates held prior to a primary election, caucus or convention, staging organizations may restrict candidate participation to candidates seeking the nomination of one party, and need not stage a debate for candidates seeking the nomination of any other political party or independent candidates.
So, I guess there is a law that could be potentionally sued over, but I don’t see how the RNC doesn’t fall within the guidelines. I’m not a lawyer.
The party of calling elections rigged is facing complaints that their election process is rigged
Exactly why I posted this article. It’s clear other GOP politicians are taking pages from Turmp’s playbook and we will likley have to deal with his form of politics for long after he is removed from the political arena.
Slam
Let the boys be boys.
“This is B.S.,” conservative radio host Larry Elder complained in a video he shared online. “It is designed, in my opinion, to ensure that [Florida Gov.] Ron DeSantis is the nominee — anybody other than Donald Trump.”
Jesus Christ, even when attempting to be nominated, he has to make it about Trump. Like even when he feels he’s facing injustice, it’s not just that they’re screwing him over, but it’s all part of their master plan to ensure Trump isn’t somehow the nominee. Like what if you actually became runner up? Was your goal to capitulate to Trump automatically?
It really is hard to separate the Republican party from Trump at this point. For many, DeSantis’ biggest sin is that he isn’t Trump. Every action by active members seems to be to win Trump’s favor. Even DeSantis has to oil his feet despite being his political rival. The fact that Trump won’t be participating in the debates, yet will still likely be nominated shows how much he actually controls the Republican party.
While Trump is skipping the debate ― and has said he’ll also sit out all future GOP debates ― eight of his Republican rivals will be vying for runner-up at the event in Milwaukee.
Unnecessarily brutal paragraph. Polling shifts quickly this far away from the actual election, and people are still starting to tune in. Trump is obviously a heavy favorite but the downside is obviously possible too with the indictments. He’s a heavy favorite but not the prohibitive favorite.
Does it really matter? Trump is getting the nomination. We can stop pretending it’s 2016 and someone else has a shot.
Donald Trump is an obese 77 year old man who doesn’t eat well or believe in exercise and is facing the stress of serious criminal trials in four jurisdictions. The odds of him suffering a massive stroke before November of 2024 is very much not zero.
You’re acting like he is a normal human being bothered by the same things a normal human being is.
going to be difficult when a few states bar him from the ballot. thats why this is so hilarious
