Bill Whalen, of the Hoover Institution, has this commentary on the California U.S. Senate race and the top-two system. He is a Republican and was once part of Governor Pete Wilson’s administration. He says he has been a supporter of the top-two system in the past, but that this year, the system is failing the state, with regard to the U.S. Senate race.
He says that the three leading Republicans running for U.S. Senate this year each represent different shades of the Republican Party, and in a normal system, they would be debating each other over the direction the Republican Party should take. But because California has a top-two system, they don’t interact in debates or other public fora with each other. Instead, because each hopes to place second on June 7, they instead attack their Democratic opponents.
The piece would be better if Whalen did not refer to the top-two system as an “open primary.” “Open primary” has been defined in political science textbooks for over 100 years as a system in which, on primary day, any voter may choose any party’s primary ballot. But each party has its own primary ballot and its own nominees. In California, there are no party nominees or party primaries (except for President). In effect, California has a trial run general election in June, five months before the election itself. And people who don’t place first or second in the trial run are then barred from the election itself.
California US Senate candidates Pamela Elizondo [Green] and Mark Herd [Libertarian] are in agreement to work together in a Top Two United Coalition.
They want to continue to build through the June 7th primary and beyond.
All Senate candidates are invited and welcomed to work together as a team to get things done for the good of the whole.
Andy Caffrey [Democratic] for Congress and James Ogle [Republican] for Central Committee and POTUS are good Democratics and Republicans working together under pure proportional representation with all candidates for public office for the good of the whole.
The correct term would be Segregated Partisan Primary
New Age Bogus Primary.
CA is the current chief victim of the USA Senate minority rule gerrymander system.
Abolish the USA Senate — a result of the CONSPIRACY of the small and slave States in the top secret 1787 Federal Convention — and also one of the major causes of the horrific Civil WAR I —
new free or slave State machinations in 1789-1861.
It appears that Demo Rep has a disdain for the smaller states. If the compromised which allowed each state, big or small, to have two US Senators, there probably would not have been a 1787 Constitution.
The *democratic* States in 1787 would have joined in a Union and let the small ANTI-Democracy States rot or become Europe slave colonies.
Rhode Island kept its rotted Charter and had a mini-revolution in the early 1840s (1840s) —
regarding who was an Elector-Voter and its really bad gerrymander Legislature.
There is or is NOT Majority Rule in a regime.
The USA regime is one giant EVIL MINORITY RULE regime –
due to the minority rule gerrymanders in the USA H. Reps., the Senate and the E.C.
Lots of brainwashing in civics classes in the rotted public skooools since 1776 about the REAL nature of the USA and State regimes.