14 Comments
User's avatar
тна Return to thread
Maggie's avatar

God Made a fighter. But Mickey Mouse beat that fighter. And also Donald Trump is beating that fighter. And also that orange fighter fighting God's fighter is getting about to get wailed on by a large, angry New Jersey fighter with diminished lung capacity.

This is the primary that Republican voters deserve.

Expand full comment
Dave's avatar

Maybe all the fighters can destroy each other

Expand full comment
Geoff Anderson's avatar

Trump is beating that fighter like a rented mule,

And it is delicious to watch

Expand full comment
Jeff Smith's avatar

Agree completely that this is the primary Republicans deserve. But it's not likely to produce the GOP candidate that the country, democracy, and the American experiment deserve, or at least desparately need.

I've never understood how the two-party system gained such power. With only one sane party, it's even more unworkable.

Expand full comment
Ben Gruder's avatar

Looking at what's happening in Israel, it's clear that multiple parties are not necessarily an answer to our problems.

Expand full comment
Jeff Smith's avatar

Good point. I guess I don't object to two parties as much as I object to the power they (both) have arrogated to themselves...

Expand full comment
Lynne Larkin's avatar

Truth - there are many other parties. They just don't garner the support of enough people, as many are more narrowly focused than the "big" parties. It developed simply enough - choosing between two became the easiest choice, and down through our history, a 3rd party acts only as spoiler.

Expand full comment
knowltok's avatar

The system is set up that way since for most elections, it is winner take all and they don't actually require a majority. A voter who hates DJT but votes green is functionally throwing their vote away. A better system (Ranked choice) lets that person vote green, comfortable in the knowledge that by ranking DJT dead last, their vote will still be counted against him. That would allow the green (and any other) party to rise or fall on its merits instead of being hamstrung in our current system.

Expand full comment
TZReader's avatar

I find it surprisingly painful to watch decent Republicans waiting for their fractured, corrupt party to produce an honest, effective candidate. Maybe the party has convinced so many voters that the government is useless and corrupt that voters prioritize entertainment and vengeance.

Expand full comment
Maggie's avatar

I can't think of a better argument for open primaries or Top # primaries than what this Republican primary is shaping up to be.

Expand full comment
Jeff Smith's avatar

Agree. Completely.

But here in my Deep Red Very Square state, our "enlightened" legislature has recently outlawed "crossover" voting...I guess political alignment, like gender, is determined at birth?

The GOP will go to great lengths to avoid any injection of sanity. Open primaries will be a hard sell in red states.

Expand full comment
knowltok's avatar

They'll be a hard enough sell in blue states, since they are something that disrupts the status quo, which plenty of blue state politicians benefit from. But yeah, in red states, they're going to be really hard to get in.

Still, if they can gain some traction along with ranked choice voting, peer pressure might start to work. Which system is more reflective of the voter's will, one which only allows you to vote FOR someone, or one that lest you do that, AND vote against someone?

Expand full comment
E. A. Bare's avatar

Republican voters just like their legislators are lazy. They always want someone else to do the work for them. It is only the republican voters that can get rid of t****, no one else is going to do that for them.

Expand full comment
Geoff Anderson's avatar

So much this.

Expand full comment
ErrorError