A simple way YOU can fix Congress: Vote in Primary Elections

[riqster]

http://bluntandcranky.wordpress.com/2013/10/10/a-simple-way-you-can-fix-congress-vote-in-primary-elections/

"Like any media campaign that relies on ever-increasing hype, the Repubs are forever ramping up the level of crazy in order to appease the teeny tiny but very vocal “base” of their party. If they don’t, they’ll lose the next primary, lose the next election, lose their cushy government jobs, and have to return to the real world and have to earn an honest living. Such a prospect is anathema to any elected official, and terrifying to boot.

The only way to break this cycle of ever-increasing insanity is for sensible, normal, rational Americans to vote in primary elections. Even if you’re not a party member, you can pick the one that is closest to you and vote for the sensible grownup who is running for a particular office, and by so doing kick the crazy wingnut candidate to the curb. It’s simple, takes less than an hour, and solves the root cause of DC’s problems.

Simple, easy, cheap, not a hardship, solves the problem. How often can you literally say you helped save the country in such a manner? If enough of us do this, we can end partisan gridlock, stop all these phony-baloney crises, and have a Congress that truly represents the majority of Americans. Because right now, it represents a minority."

As far as the "this goes for both sides" meme: not in this case. The Left has been so marginalized that there really aren't any extreme leftist officeholders in DC. So we don't have to push Dems to the middle - quite the opposite, in fact. But the Repubs need pushed away from the Wingnut Abyss and back towards Reality. And that requires non-Wingnuts to vote in Primary elections.



More at the link. Forward it to your republican friends. If we can move them to the polls next Spring, we can break the gridlock in Congress. Or at least weaken it.

[mmonk]

1. One word.

Gerrymandered.

[riqster]

2. Three words

"Don't give up."

Ok, a few more words: Assuming that we are forever fucked by evil Republican trickery is defeatist. A district may be gerrymandered so it is as red as red can get: but getting our sane Repub associates to the polls at primary time can at least give us relatively rational reeps to deal with, instead of the flaming nutjobs we are dealing with now.

Or hell, if it's legal, temporarily change your affiliation if you live in a Red district and vote against the lunatic. I've done that, more than once.

Doing nothing about the problem hasn't worked. Time try doing something.