We are all aware of the laws that prevent the media from releasing voting results before the polls close. The reason is the fear that voters will remain home if they learn that their candidate is losing by a large margin; or they might stay home if their candidate has a large lead. “Why should I take a long lunch / go out in this rain / leave the comfort of home to stand in line if my candidate is winning/losing by so much already?”
I think this is a great law. It keeps the press out of our hair for a short (albeit sweet) amount of time. It lets voters vote without worry. Exit polls may provide some influence, but in my experience most people don’t value exit poll results.
Why can’t we expand this concept across a much larger timeframe? I’m talking about during the primary process. But not just one day’s worth or one state’s worth. I’m talking about the entire primary process. Here’s my idea:
Let’s not release the results until the actual party conventions.
Why is this a good idea?
- Each party member in each state will be allowed to vote for the candidate they want as opposed to having to choose from only the remaining candidates as dictated by previous primaries. In other words you will be able to vote for the person that best represents your values, not just for the one that pisses you off the least. For example: I’m in Texas and I’m a Mitt Romney supporter. Thanks to the current system by the time I got the chance to vote my candidate wasn’t even on the ballot. I don’t think that’s fair.
- By not knowing who is leading the delegate count each candidate will be forced to campaign continuously and spend their money wisely if they want it to last. Hmm… that sounds like something most Americans have to do every month.
- The financial difficulty of entering a long and expensive race will certainly deter and potentially weed out candidates that currently join the races for ego and/or local popularity reasons. Politicians will think twice about entering the campaign if its going to cost them so much. A pleasant side effect of this would be the much celebrated death of the ten candidate primary ‘debate’ circus that we all had to endure.
- The national party conventions will actually mean something.
- The media will be forced to cover other issues because they won’t know who is actually winning and won’t have a singular candidate to prop up and promote.
Of course, the easier thing to do would be to move to a single national primary day and stop all of this ridiculous state posturing and jockeying for position. I think it is incredibly unfair that states far away from where I live have predetermined who I can vote for, especially given the differences between the issues I face in Texas on a day to day basis versus whatever is going on in Iowa, Ohio or New Hampshire.
A national primary day just makes sense.
He’s going to be the Republican nominee. Let’s get right to his speech (transcript here):
“Many of you have disagreed strongly with some positions I have taken in recent years. I understand that. I might not agree with it, but I respect it for the principled position it is. And it is my sincere hope that even if you believe I have occasionally erred in my reasoning as a fellow conservative, you will still allow that I have, in many ways important to all of us, maintained the record of a conservative. Further, I hope you will grant that I have defended many positions we share just as ardently as I have made my case for positions that have provoked your opposition.”
In other words
- I disagree with your opposition to McCain-Kennedy and McCain-Feingold.
- I don’t think I’m mistaken. I think you are mistaken.
- I’m passionately stubborn and will continue to demand my way or the highway.
Next:
“…the rule of law in our country is not to aggregate power to the state but to protect the liberty and property of its citizens.”
Is that so? What about the property of border towns? What about the liberty of the 60 or so Americans kidnapped from Laredo this year? What about the laws already on the books that make it illegal to enter our country by simply walking across the desert?
Next:
“I believe today, as I believed twenty-five years ago, in small government; fiscal discipline; low taxes; a strong defense, judges who enforce, and not make, our laws; the social values that are the true source of our strength; and, generally, the steadfast defense of our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness…”
Starts off good, this is what Conservatives want. We just don’t these rights extended to illegal aliens. Now more on immigration:
“I respect your opposition for I know that the vast majority of critics to the bill based their opposition in a principled defense of the rule of law. And while I and other Republican supporters of the bill were genuine in our intention to restore control of our borders, we failed, for various and understandable reasons, to convince Americans that we were. I accept that, and have pledged that it would be among my highest priorities to secure our borders first, and only after we achieved widespread consensus that our borders are secure, would we address other aspects of the problem in a way that defends the rule of law and does not encourage another wave of illegal immigration.”
This is good, but is it true? The past voting record is to the contrary. Do Conservatives have enough trust left in the bank to hope that this actually happens? Or, is this just pandering to silence critics until we are distracted by something else.
- “Senator Clinton and Senator Obama want to increase the size of the federal government. I intend to reduce it.”
- “Senator Clinton and Senator Obama will raise your taxes. I intend to cut them.”
- “Senator Clinton and Senator Obama will withdraw our forces from Iraq based on an arbitrary timetable designed for the sake of political expediency, and which recklessly ignores the profound human calamity and dire threats to our security that would ensue.”
Amen Senator. On these items we agree.
“If I am convinced my judgment is in error, I will correct it. And if I stand by my position, even after benefit of your counsel, I hope you will not lose sight of the far more numerous occasions when we are in complete accord.”
To paraphrase the red text above, “I may push forward with legislation that Conservatives may hate, but that’s ok because there have been times in the past that we happened to agree.” Personally, I’d like to hear a single example of a time when the Senator has changed his position based on erroneous judgment. Just one.
“I am pro-life and an advocate for the Rights of Man everywhere in the world because of them, because I know that to be denied liberty is an offense to nature and nature’s Creator. I will never waver in that conviction, I promise you.”
In other words torture is bad, I will not condone it, nor will I condone prisons like Guantanamo.
Summary: I am of mixed emotions over this speech. How much is sincere? How much is pandering? I didn’t witness it so I’m forced to interpret from text alone. I pray that the Senator has truly heard our voices and will work as hard with Conservatives as he does across the aisle.
