Santos is the poster boy for what’s wrong with our electoral system. He was originally supposed to be a “sacrificial lamb” candidate in a heavily Democratic district, put there so the Democrat wouldn’t run unopposed but with no expectation he’d win. Then the court switched up the districts.
Our system allows the fringe to choose the candidates; both parties do it but right now the ’publicans are better at it. Then the people vote, with this one in particular, not looking beyond the “D” or “R.”
We got better candidates when the party bosses chose the candidates than we have with primary elections. I’m not suggesting that we go back to the “smoke-filled room,” but we need to find a way to choose candidates that actually represent their constituents, not their own narrow interests – after all, even in deep-red states narrow majorities disagree, say, with the strident anti-abortion bills that are being passed.
Santos is the poster boy for what’s wrong with our electoral system. He was originally supposed to be a “sacrificial lamb” candidate in a heavily Democratic district, put there so the Democrat wouldn’t run unopposed but with no expectation he’d win. Then the court switched up the districts.
Our system allows the fringe to choose the candidates; both parties do it but right now the ’publicans are better at it. Then the people vote, with this one in particular, not looking beyond the “D” or “R.”
We got better candidates when the party bosses chose the candidates than we have with primary elections. I’m not suggesting that we go back to the “smoke-filled room,” but we need to find a way to choose candidates that actually represent their constituents, not their own narrow interests – after all, even in deep-red states narrow majorities disagree, say, with the strident anti-abortion bills that are being passed.