31 October 2007

Primaries v. Caucuses

With voter turnout as low as it is, you'd think states would be willing to change in order to make it easier to vote. One of the reasons they could do this would be to change from caucuses to primaries in the presidential election. According to Living Democracy, a college-level American government textbook, "Turnout in primaries is generally about 15 percent of eligible voters, and attendance at caucuses rarely gets beyond 5 percent." Why in the world would a party still want to use caucuses? Well, part of the reason is that certain people can choose their nomination without the masses having a say in it.

I personally think that certain parts of the election process need to be reformed. When the framers of the Constitution created the Electoral College, their plan was to stop the "common man" from voting; they were scared that the lower classes would outnumber the wealthy and, essentially, take away their money. Between the electoral college and caucuses, the average citizen does not feel as if their vote counts.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You're exactly right. The writers of the constitution didn't want a democracy, and we are trying to have one within the framework of their document. I really don't see what is so great about the Constitution. I mean sure, it works, but so do a number of other constitutions, and some of them probably better than ours, considering that the current two party disenfranchisement is a direct result of the political system set up by the Constitution. Yet some act as though you've blasphemed the Bible if you have any criticism of the Constitution.