| MIKE PIRTLE: Thank you for eliminating primaries |
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By: MIKE PIRTLE, Post Publisher
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Posted: Monday, January 25, 2010 9:26 am
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Thank you Republican and Democratic parties for sparing us voters an unnecessary trip to the polls in what will be a heavy election year.
The political parties decided to forgo primary elections this spring in favor of party caucuses to pick their candidates for several local offices, including county mayor and sheriff.
And, by the way, the decision saves taxpayers some $100,000 that would be expended to hold the traditional primary election.
Now I’ve always thought a primary election for most local offices was kind of goofy.
A commitment to service and integrity plus some specific knowledge regarding the various offices was the key factor in selecting most of our elected county officers.
What’s the party difference for road superintendent for goodness sakes?
The only office that really seemed to be conducive to a political party label is county mayor and even there common sense and what makes sense for our community far exceeds any perceive party principles.
In fact, I’m not sure I really understand what Republicans and Democrats stand for in a wide sense anymore.
It is easier to see what they are against, usually whatever the other party is proposing, especially when the other party is in power.
I appreciate that Tennessee pretty much lets voters be whatever they want to be whenever they want to be.
Like that big bunch of Tennesseans in the middle, I vote for whoever I want, based on where my interests lead me, whether I really like a candidate, and sometimes whether I really dislike one, or where the hot race exists.
So, my election history would be spotted although heavily leaning toward Democratic primary participation because until about 1994 that’s where most of the action was.
Now, not so much.
The 2008 election pretty much moved Rutherford County into the solid red status.
It might surprise many of those who have moved here in the past eight years, but that change is pretty monumental.
Before then, the Democratic Party held most of the power and the further back you went the more it was weighted that way.
In fact, the Democratic primary for local office was pretty much the general election. Any number of candidates might vie for the Democratic nomination for an office, win the primary and then wait several months for the general election to actually claim the office in a vote that really didn’t mean anything because the dye was cast.
But gradually things changed. The GOP landslide of 1994 played a role as well as changing demographics as people moved into the community and as party identities, agendas and candidates on the state and national level ebbed and flowed.
The ebb here was pretty heavily to the red and seemed to gain momentum at a staggering rate and ultimately reached the point in 2008 where Republican’s took the political power position, including control of the elections board.
With the GOP in ascendancy, it was a little surprising the party didn’t need a primary because the party on top usually tends to draw more candidates wanting to be part of the perceived winning movement.
It may be that the local party, having worked so hard in the past many years to identify, fortify and promote candidates it could elect, has just developed a process that continues to do so.
Or, it may be this election cycle is unique. Every one pretty much is anymore.
Personally I’m just glad I don’t have to study party primary tickets to see where I want to vote the most. It’s hard trying to decide whether I like Candidate A on the one ticket more than I dislike Candidate B on the other ticket.
Now, I can just wait until August and vote for the candidate I think can do the most good for our community. I will still have a choice, maybe more than one because independents can still run.
But, instead of worrying about party labels that often mean little or nothing to me, I can just vote for whomever I like best.
That’s my favorite kind of democratic voting.
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