Friday, March 21, 2014

I Missed the Caucuses

There is a big debate about the caucus system in Utah this year.

Because of that debate, I really wanted to go to a political caucus this year.

Throughout the years, I've crashed both Democratic and Republican caucuses.

BTW: I should mention. I like to engage in critical thinking happen to believe strongly in the classical liberal ideals of the US Founders. Both parties want members who are malleable sheep who engage in group think.  Both the major parties have made it abundantly clear that critical thinking is not allowed in the party.

The Utah Democratic caucus was on the 18th. I definitely had no interest in attending their crime against humanity. The GOP caucus was on the 20th. Conservatism is a dialectical ideology that appeared in the 1800s with the aim of preserving the social structure of the ancient regime.

Conservatism uses free market rhetoric to gain power. Once in power, conservatives use their influence for economic and political centralization.As a classical liberal and critical thinker, I stand against squarely the Conservative party. I want candidates that support both limited government and economic decentralization.

The GOP has made it abundantly clear that I am not welcome among their ranks. To be truthful, I've completely given up on the GOP.

For the last six years I've been wanting to attend or host a meeting in which people spoke about free market health care reform. In six years I've been turned aside by every conservative group.

If the GOP is not even willing to talk about the most important issue of our day, then they are useless.

As the GOP caucus approached, I had to admit to myself: I am not a Republican. Through the years, the GOP has made it clear that people like me with a classical liberal bent and a tendency to critical thinking are simply not welcome in their ranks.

The Republican Party is their party. I am neither welcome in it nor a member of it.

Since I am not a member of their party, what business do I have in crashing their party and trying to influence their internal elections?

As the caucus approached, I realized that I have no business going where I am clearly not welcome. I am not going to go to a meeting and claim to be a Republican when I adamantly opposed to the hypocrisy of the GOP.

BTW, I really don't have a problem with not being welcome.


Much as I wanted to go to a caucus this year, I ended up staying at home.

Staying at home led me to contemplate a major problem with the two party system:

There are millions of people like me who are disgusted with both the GOP and Democratic Party. The two party system leaves us locked out of the candidate selection process. The end result of locking independent and critical thinkers from the political system means that, no matter what, we will end up with a government set on economic and political centralization.

This problem is inherent in the two party system. It is not a problem of the caucus system used by the parties.

Just as I have no business attending a caucus of a party that I don't belong to, I have no business voting in the primary election of a party I don't belong to.

Instead of having a debate about the caucus system, I wish we had a debate about this absurd party system. The party system creates a dynamic in which independent thinkers are routinely locked out of the election process and each election tends to culminate in a vote between the lesser of two evils.

1 comment:

Jesse Harris said...

I get your frustration. I stayed unaffiliated or in third parties for years for the same reasons you mentioned. Then I had the realization that as long as I'm sitting on the sidelines, I'm letting the wrong people run the political party that calls most of the shots in this state. Why should I let them get away with it?

It may seem otherwise, but there are a lot of libertarian and classical liberal voices within the GOP. We sometimes even get wins. Libertas had a good year for getting their bills passed. This only happens when we show up.

I hope you'll reconsider next time around. Sitting on the sidelines is basically forfeiting the game. I'm done letting them get away with it.