American democracy, like any form of democracy, cannot guarantee proper representation of the people unless the people make a decided effort to involve themselves in the election process. Many point with sadness to the low turnout that occurs in American general elections and can only look at Europe, whose own turnout is consistently falling to meet ours, as some sort of city on a hill. Many non-voters will point to dissatisfaction with the nominees given to them from our two political parties. How sad, then, that a vast majority of even those who do bother to vote on Election Day almost never turn out for the determination of the party candidates themselves, something not enjoyed by Europeans, our primaries.
In June 2001, U.S. Rep. Joe Moakley, D-Mass., died of leukemia after serving for almost 30 years, always re-elected by reliably large margins in his solid Democratic district. This left a heated primary between several candidates, victory tantamount to an election, held on, of all days, Sept. 11, 2001. With the attacks came a surge of patriotism that caused many to go to the polls in defiance of terror and a celebration of democracy, and turnout ended up being higher than expected. How high was this massive turnout? Only one-third of eligible voters showed up to vote. Turnout was a little better in the general election, but it was only a rubber stamp, the most important part of the show having come and gone.
Sadly, this result is typical of primary elections in general, whether it be primaries that are, themselves, equal to election or those in places with an even partisan divide, such as the coming primary that will nominate the Democratic candidate to oppose Gov. Scott McCallum. Chances are, Sept. 10 shall pass, the 11th bring us the nomination of either U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, D-Milwaukee, Attorney General Jim Doyle, or Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, and a heated general election season will only then ensue. Just a small clique of people will have actually had a voice in that nomination.
This is not to say that our system of nomination and election is automatically unfair. It is simply that the chance for bad representation increases when people don't even bother to show up to select the final choices and then spend time complaining about the finalists. Even if the non-voters are of the same proportions as voters, in their opinions it is still disturbing, as people did not vote in an important election.
One might reply that primary elections are simply a function of smoke-filled room politics anyway, the original candidates themselves determined in a far-off place and the power of incumbency or some appointed heir forever protected. However, any adherent to this strain of thought should ask Reps. Gary Condit, D-Calif.; Brian Kerns, R-Ind.; Tom Sawyer, D-Ohio; Frank Mascara, D-Penn.; Earl Hilliard, D-Ala.; Lynn Rivers, D-Mich., Bob Barr, R-Ga., and Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga., what they think of it. They are incumbent members of Congress defeated for re-election this year in their primaries, their careers ended before November has even come around.
McCallum's administration has been composed of one embarrassing blunder after another. He has called local government, the thriftiest of government officials, a pack of \big spenders,"" while flying from Madison to Janesville and other close locations at taxpayer expense. He referred to his budget deficit as good news, allowing him to cut the programs he's always disliked. He called a reporter a ""dumb son of a bitch"" after being asked legitimate questions on his budget plan and some fishy Republican ideas on public libraries. But those students who hope to see his career implode can't really say they have done their part if they don't turn out on Sept. 10 and vote for that candidate who can both uphold better ideals and have the best chance of defeating McCallum. All polling data indicates that the Democratic primary is going to have a close result whoever wins, and it's important for students to show up and be heard.
