If We Keep the Caucuses, Give them a Redo

   To build a better bridge, this is our quest. How will we do it? How should we change our election process? I come today to suggest that if we save the caucus meetings, we should change 'em up, revamp and revitalize them. We should take what's good, and keep it, and take what's bad, and get rid of it.
  What's good, of course, is having neighbors sit down in mass meetings to discuss public issues, to have them involved in a manner beyond just taking a vote. What's good also includes the opportunity to meet the candidates. What's good might also include the opportunity for a candidate to be elected without having to spend so much money.
   I'll leave out one of the good features, and maybe address it in a separate blog.
   What's bad is getting all dressed up to go to the caucus meeting in the name of being involved, only to sign away your right to vote to a political activist, sending him or her to the convention to do the voting there instead of casting your own vote.
   What's bad is attendance. Two years ago, record attendance still only accounted for, what, half as many as those who turn out to vote?
    What's bad is the caucus-convention is a playground for political machines. They plant people at the caucuses to run as delegates for their candidates. The unassuming citizen comes along and often is so new to the process that he or she doesn't suggest a delegate, just votes for the one set forth. It becomes easy for machines to dictate who will be nominated.
   Spending? It is true that it takes a lot of money to get your name out to win a primary. Yes, only having to contact a limited number of delegates can help take away the influence of money. But, if the money is already there, if the candidate has a bucket full, already and anyway, he is still going to spend it. Instead of spending, say, $1 for vote, he can spend, say, $10 per vote. Instead of mailing fancy fliers, he can spend to take the delegate out to lunch. Now, there is a tendency to vote for the person who takes you out to lunch ahead of the person who just appeals to you with emails. Money isn't eliminated; it's enabled. The number of people you have to reach is reduced to where you can spend more on each one and have a better chance of, in a way, buying their vote, instead of just appealing to them through the media.
   Yet one more bad thing about the current C-C system. It often turns out of office those who the masses would elect. Bob Bennett was elected by the people, but it wasn't the people who turned him out of office, but the party delegates. Olene Walker fared well in public opinion polling, but was likewise turned out of office by the convention delegates. The will of the people should not be circumvented.