Primarily Thinking

I confess to being a little confused about the current process for selecting a President.

In the old days the candidates of the two parties (for we remain a two-party system despite our best efforts to improve) were chosen, in convention, by delegate representatives of each party. At those conventions, also, things called "platforms" were negotiated expressing the beliefs and ideals of the party and the legislative initiatives they intended to introduce if their candidate was elected. The chosen candidate was then expected to honor that platform. Everything was clear and the only decision we poor independents had to make was which party’s platform seemed less dangerous and vote for their candidate.

Now the candidates of each party are chosen by a primary system of general election which in many states lets independents (unenrolled they call us now) vote in whichever primary they like. This inevitably leads to pandering. Instead of upholding the party ideals and convincing the party faithful to support them, candidates must reach out to the least involved segment of the electorate. The candidates are known before the conventions, their views become the platform, there is no strong feeling that their party will honor their legislative agenda, the conventions are meaningless. And all this is going to happen this year eight or nine months before the election.

My hope is that someone will recognize the stupidity of this process and step into the race around next September, declare that they are willing to work with anyone, regardless of affiliation, to bring this country back to being a beacon of freedom, peace, and justice for the world.