It's the parties.....yes both of them!

Well blogger seems to have returned after being off line much of yesterday so I guess it's time for me to get back to ranting. The subject of today's rant is political parties. Political parties tend to be controlled by activists, wingnuts of both the right and left threaded varieties, and don't represent the thoughts of the majority. They all represent a central node where those seeking to buy power and influence can concentrate their efforts. The major parties, both Republican and Democrat, have worked to consolidate their power, often working together. Last week my local paper, the Oregonian, had a commentary on how this was happening in Oregon, Oregon independents: on the outside looking in.

Democrat and Republican partisans have become burly bouncers stationed at the entrance to Oregon's political system, turning away one independent after another with a condescending smile, "Sorry, private party."

The party-protectors strung another rope line in the last Legislature, pushing through a law to make it much harder for unaffiliated candidates to make their way into Oregon's general elections.

The law prevents anyone who votes in a primary election from also helping to nominate an independent candidate, regardless of whether the voter signs a petition before or after the primary. Senate Majority Leader Kate Brown, D-Portland, claimed the law is just about "preserving one voter, one vote in the nominating process."

It is more than that. It is another "No Trespassing" sign the parties have put up at the border of Oregon's political system. If the Legislature wanted solely to uphold the one-person, one-vote maxim, it would have passed a law that upheld a voter's first nominating act, whether it was a signature in support of an independent candidate or a vote in a primary election.

Instead, the law insists that a vote in a party primary election trumps all. If you sign a petition nominating an independent candidate for governor today, but vote in the Democratic or Republican primary in May, your signature, not your later vote, will be rejected.

Those "Independent", non-affiliated voters are all but locked out of the political process as increasing numbers consider themselves independents. The two parties are in effect disenfranchising voters.

Oregon needs more, not fewer, independent voices in its political system. If the parties persist in closing off the options of Oregon voters, there will be a backlash. One may come sooner rather than later: Supporters of an initiative to create a "top two" open primary system are now gathering signatures to put the idea on the ballot.

No one is claiming that a top two primary would fix all that ails Oregon politics. It would not end partisanship, or turn the Legislature into a well-oiled machine cranking out solutions to school-funding and health care crises.

However, it's time to challenge the closed primary system where ever-smaller minorities of voters set the limited choices for the general election. Let the parties defend a system that this fall will give voters an uninspiring choice between Derrick Kitts and David Wu for a seat in Congress, while dissuading people like Kitzhaber and Westlund from seeking major office.

The parties still are holding the door to Oregon's political system. But more and more independents are knocking. More people are coming to the conclusion that Oregon elections should not be by invitation only. Those bouncers are about to have their hands full.

The result of the current system will mean that in November I will once again have a choice between an ineffective, misguided and incompetent David Wu or a Republican for my district house seat. That's enough to make me think I should just pass.