Crossover Voting

Hello! I’m back …

I wish that I’d put this up yesterday, at least. But here it is.

I’ve heard a lot today about Republicans crossing over and voting in the Democratic primaries in order to keep Hillary Clinton in the race. To be perfectly honest, this is wildly offensive to me. This is the kind of thing that is done by people who don’t want to argue ideas, aren’t willing to discuss principles and beliefs, and view the political process as a game to be won or lost by any means.

Voting is an important and near-sacred duty. It is not merely a right, it is a duty that we as citizens have in this republic. If you believe that the right person to lead the nation starting in 2009 is Barack Obama, John McCain, Hillary Clinton, Mike Gravel, Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee, Gene Amondson, or Dennis Kucinich, then it’s your right to vote for that person … AND YOUR DUTY TO TAKE IT SERIOUSLY. It is for that reason that I have constantly said that you should vote for the candidate in whom you believe, regardless of polls and other people’s votes.

There is a view that the Republican contest doesn’t matter anymore, that it’s been completely decided in John McCain’s favor. Even if that’s true, then Republicans should find something else to do. I recommend reading a book. I’m currently reading Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. It’s pretty good. Get a copy.

Rush Limbaugh described his reasons for wanting Republicans to vote for Hillary Clinton. Click here to read it off his own web site.  I find this to be one of the most cynical and reprehensible abuses of the primary system that I can imagine. In his own words:

RUSH: I know I’m fighting an uphill battle here, folks, on trying to convince you Republicans in Ohio and Texas to cross over, pimp yourselves for a day, vote for Hillary to keep this campaign going, this Uncivil War, Democrat Party.  I know what’s going to happen.  Even if I convince you to do it — remember what this is, this is about us winning.  You have to understand, it’s not about Hillary winning; it’s about us winning.  It’s about our party winning.  It’s about those people losing.  They’ve got some problems in the Democrat Party.  It’s not all sweetness and light over there, and we need them to continue warring with each other.  We love these stories of black people claiming they’ve been threatened with violence or their lives because they’re not supporting Obama.  We want all this kind of stuff out there.  We want the Clinton campaign to keep pumping out these pictures of Obama dressed up as Bin Laden.  We want this kind of stuff.  If Hillary loses this thing, all of that’s going to come to a screeching halt.  We want all the disruption in that party as possible.  It’s about us winning. 

This is about us winning, he says. Is it about winning on the battlefield of ideas? Is it about persuading people to agree with him?

No. It turns out that it’s just about dirty tricks, manipulating primaries, and trying to play people off against each other. I’m sure that the Founding Fathers would be proud. After all, they surely established a Republic so that we could play games with the elections and try to get candidates nominated that weaken the other party.

This is the kind of thing that separates the adults from the children when it comes to political junkies, as far as I’m concerned. I am perfectly willing to discuss issues, and enjoy doing so. However, I want outcomes to be based on ideas, facts, and persuasion. I don’t want to help the Democrats nominate someone who might not be able to unite their party, and so might be more vulnerable to a general election loss.

Anything less than honest and open campaigning shows poor character, and disrespect for the process, the history of the Republic, and the values behind the electoral process.

Perhaps, I suppose, you have your irrational hatred of Democrats in place and simply don’t care about any of my discussion of principle and ideas. There is another consideration — it might backfire.

Keeping the Democratic primary in the news means giving the Democrats even more free discussion time. If the only election news is Clinton and Obama, and there is no reason to talk about McCain, then it becomes easy to ignore him. If everyone is talking about whether they like Clinton or Obama more, then why even consider McCain and one’s opinion of him?

I’m not so certain that either Democrat will be the easy prey that many right-leaning pundits believe. A Clinton comeback in Texas would mean new bragging rights, new media buzz, and more momentum … which might even carry forward into the general election. How would you feel if you helped keep the Clinton campaign alive, and she wound up winning the general election?

I have no fear about regretting my primary vote. I voted for the candidate I believed best for my beliefs and values. If you take Limbaugh’s advice and pimp yourself, are you sure that you will feel the same?

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