Primary Elections

Movement toward the center appears to be happening. Far Right and Far Left issues are fading, and voters are indicating a more centrist viewpoint. True, that center band is broad, not focused on a narrow center. There remains a lot of room for both state and federal election results in the fall to shift around. Where the public’s voice will settle is a big unknown.

Meanwhile, the Illinois GOP has selected a gubernatorial candidate that should be easy to defeat. Governor Pritzker should be an easy win for re-election.

Congressional elections will continue to struggle in those districts that were newly redrawn and gerrymandered. The point of redistricting, of course, is to make it easier for one political party to win support with their candidates. The republican effort along these lines appears to be faltering in Illinois. 

Why is this important? Because strength of political party in both states and Congress will create the power struggles to battle specific issues. These include voter rights, campaign finance regulations, abortion rights, gay rights (marry, child adoption, ‘gay therapy’, and transgender issues), and women’s rights. There are many other issues, but these are the ones which divide the most.

Please note the absence of gun rights in the above paragraph!

Gun violence needs our attention. The solutions do not include removing gun rights. So much is that true, let us ask the gun owners to solve the social problem of gun violence. They should protect their own rights, but we should expect them to also offer up the best solutions to actually lower gun violence. Solve it? Most likely not; ease the problem? I would hope so. Let’s see what they come up with!

Many people believe primary election are not important. Not true. Primaries are how political parties name their candidates to do their bidding once they are elected. IF they are elected. Primaries give voters the opportunity to shape those candidate slates. Leaving it to highly motivated issue mongers warps the look of the ballot sheets in November. Best to do that with more input from voters well before the November elections.

The $50 million investment by Ken Griffin in rightwing ideologues failed spectacularly. Good thing. The ballot in the fall will be much easier to understand and select better candidates that mirror the will of the voters.

Ours is an imperfect democracy. Always has been. Until the Constitution is amended to accurately reflect open, fair elections, all of us have a duty to vote in every election no matter how small.

June 30, 2022

 

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