I am amused at the tremendous amount of support many Colorado Republicans are giving a third party candidate for governor when they decide they don’t like the GOP nominee.
Welcome aboard.
Some of us have felt that way for decades.
|
||||||
|
According to the Denver Post’s Christopher Osher, who wrote a feature on GOP candidate for Governor Dan Maes, Maes must work to beat Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper on the Democratic side as Tom Tancredo steals votes that would normally go to the Republican… I realize “stealing” votes is a metaphor, but it is a bad one.
“Stealing” is to take something that belongs to another without permission. The implication that Tancredo, or any third party, “steals” votes is blatantly incorrect.
People, as individuals, own their votes. Dan Maes does not “own” Republican votes. The state party does not “own” Republican votes. If Colorado Republicans choose to vote for someone else, they have not “stolen” a thing.
If party members think Tancredo is “stealing” their votes, the party believes they own those votes and someone is wrongfully taking them. The very concept is arrogant.
Voters can not “steal” something they own.
Competition is always good. Always.
The more competitors, the more choice and the better off we all are. This applies to goods and services. It applies to public schools. And, yes, it applies to political candidates. More choice is never a bad thing. Ever.
When choice becomes a bad thing, there is something wrong with the system that creates that result.
Tom Tancredo is not the problem. Third parties are not the problem. Our two party election process, including plurality voting, is the problem. A two party duopoly, controlling and limiting the choices of every American citizen, is the problem.
If we want a better America, criticizing competition is misplaced.
Colorado Republican state chair Dick Wadhams called Tancredo’s plan to run for governor as the American Constitution Party candidate “reprehensible.” It is not. What is “reprehensible” is a system that gives the people of Colorado two really bad choices for governor. Anyone trying to solve that problem is not “reprehensible.” People defending the status quo are not “reprehensible” either, but they are horribly misguided.
Most people, even die hard political activists, act as if the two party system and plurality voting are some immutable law of nature, like gravity. Our election process is not a law of physics. It is not even a law of our Constitution.
It is a process that has simply evolved without any particular design, intelligent or otherwise. We can change it if we are willing to recognize the problem. Pretending that Tancredo and third parties are the problem is a bad diagnosis.
Our system is broken. While there is no panacea, there are ways to fix it. Approval voting is one such fix.
|
||||||
|
Copyright © 2012 Liberty on the Rocks™ Denver - All Rights Reserved |
||||||
