OPEN PRIMARIES: Party should select candidates

Politics in America have always been contentious. An 1804 political ad read, “Down with the Tories…before they…enslave you…reducing your families to distress through taxation…”  

It took our Founding Fathers years to fine-tune our Constitution and the procedures for selecting our leaders. Although they warned against ‘the baneful effects of the spirit of party,’ political parties were inevitable. The course corrections in the 12th Amendment removed a constitutional flaw and prevented potential deadlocks caused by the workings of partisan groups.

Partisan groups are still scheming to influence Idaho elections today. Our state legislature decided in 2011 that it was fair to allow members of a recognized political party to select their own nominees for the general election ballot. Yet an outside group called “Reclaim Idaho” (think George Soros) is now hoping to sideline political parties and dilute the power of the majority by forcing open primaries/ranked choice voting. They claim this would be ‘more fair.’ With anyone able to vote in any primary, regardless of how they affiliate, would our Republican candidates then be chosen by the Democrats, the Socialists, and virtually anyone else who wants to influence our choice of candidates? I have a suggestion for all of them…if you want to influence the majority party in ID, become part of the 59% of voters who register as Republican, and then support the candidates most likely to represent the Republican platform: small government, freedom from excessive taxation, and protection of our God-given, constitutional rights. If you don’t embrace those values, then you are still free to vote in November, but you have no business trying to pick the candidates who appear on our ticket. It’s just that simple.  

JIM PATTERSON

Coeur d’Alene