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0 pointsalistairSH9y ago0 comments

Can you?

With the American primary election system, legislators are driven to cater to their most extreme constituents. With transparency, they can't work across the aisle AND also win a primary. At least with pork barrel, they get a tangible thing to point to while campaigning to attempt to appease constituents.

0 comments

naasking9y ago

Legislators are driven by extreme positions because of the perception that these positions represent enough voter sentiment to influence elections. In fact most constituents are more centrist, which factual reporting standards would highlight.

alistairSHOP9y ago

I'm not sure that's correct for primaries.

Primary elections are by party, so are by definition more extreme than general elections. A candidate must win over an average Democrat OR and average Republican, not an average across all voters.

Further compounding the problem, many states/districts hold closed primaries and/or caucuses, which limits participation to those with a strong interest in elections (either enough interest to join a party and/or enough interest to give up half a day or more of time to join a caucus).

maxerickson9y ago

Yes, private organizations shouldn't have special methods for placing names on ballots, the rules should be the same for everyone.

Groups can still endorse candidates in that world, it just doesn't impact the names that show up on the ballot.

blackbagboys9y ago

'Most' constituents may be centrist, but the constituents who vote in primaries generally are not.

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