By DON W. ADAMS
Chairman of the Illinois Republican
Party, he is a member of the
Republican National Committee and
member of the Illinois State Board
of Elections.
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Should open primaries be adopted by Illinois? |
BEFORE defending the closed primary system in Illinois, I must state the three premises on which my arguments rest. The first of these is the conviction that political parties encompassing diverse regional and social interests serve an important national purpose. Second is the belief that political parties can be effective only if their members are active in party affairs and give it philosophical direction. Third, the system must provide a means by which those who have no desire to be affiliated with an existing political party have the full opportunity to participate in the electoral process.
Political parties have played an important unifying role in our national political experience. Political parties evolved early in our nation's history because Americans became concerned about the influence of narrow interests and powerful institutions in our government. The forerunners of our two major political parties were the result of popular coalitions against groups that represented a threat to individual liberty and opportunity.
Threat to parties
No organization, and least of all a
political organization, can function
effectively if it cannot identify its
membership. The leaders of a political
Party must know to whom they are
responsible and accountable for the
conduct of party affairs. The belief that
a political party can remain viable when
those who refuse to publicly identify
with it are allowed to help choose its
leaders and candidates is unrealistic.
^ny political party so emasculated
would quickly disperse to find more effective kinds of political associations.
The most often heard argument in favor of the open primary is that more People would vote, thus making the nominating process more representative. The facts prove otherwise. The election results from the several open primary states throughout the nation show that there is no statistically significant difference in voter participation from closed primary states in the same geographical regions. In fact, a number of political studies have established that persons affiliated with a political party are much more likely to vote than those who are unaffiliated. Moreover, they are much better informed about the issues and the candidates.
A variation of the same argument cites recent national polls that show party membership declining and the numbers of those identifying themselves as political independents increasing. The argument goes that this ever- increasing group of independents not only desires but is entitled to participate in the nominating process of the parties. Yet these very same polls pointedly show that this decline is due, for the most part, to discontent with the parties themselves. It follows, then, that the argument made is that those persons who have failed to change the parties by remaining in them, should be allowed to do so by getting out of them.
The current movement for an open primary in Illinois is, in reality, a well- meaning but ill-considered attempt to change the two major parties. The movement is rooted primarily among those individuals who have been frustrated in their efforts to remake the existing parties. Instead of pursuing the reasonable alternatives of either changing the parties by patiently working from within them or forming new parties more to their liking (which is the way the changing political needs of our society have been satisfied in the past), many of these individuals seek goals that could very well destroy the system that has served us so well.
An insight into the attitudes of many who support the open primary is gained from the following observation in the 1974 report on open primaries made to the 78th Illinois General Assembly by the Committee on Elections:
"More to the point, the testimony before the Committee indicated that many voters don't care about the potential impact of the open primary on political parties. They want to participate in primary elections, and they don't understand why, in order to do so, they must declare their'politics.'Such voters don't share some of the values held by persons who regularly participate in political party activity. Lectures by partisans on the virtues of the two-party system serve only to reinforce their 'we and they' sense of alienation from party politics and its practitioners."
Right to know principle
The fundamental argument against
the open primary rests on the belief that
those who do not have the courage to
take a public stand concerning their
allegiance to a political party should not
be allowed to participate in choosing its
leadership. This is simply a manifestation of a very sound principle that holds
that the decisions of public bodies
should be made in as open an atmosphere as possible. Those who freely
choose to call themselves Republicans,
Democrats or anything else should have
the right to know who is involved in
selecting their party's leaders. It should
Continued at top of page 26.
November 1977 / Illinois Issues / 25
No: Doing away with the closed primary would undermine the unifying function of political parties and strengthen the fragmenting powers of special interests
be noted that Illinois election laws allow for the full participation in the general election process of those independent candidates who do not choose to affiliate with any party.
Doing away with the closed primary can harm our political system by making it much easier for demagogues, pandering to the emotional fervor of the moment, to win control of a party organization. The open primary requires no philosophical commitment from an individual to a political party's long-term goals — no commitment deeper than the one-time decision to participate in a party's nominating process.
Lost minority viewpoints
The open primary threatens our
political system in yet another way. One
of the strengths of the American system
has always been the participation of
minority viewpoints in the electoral
process. One need not be much of a
prophet to see that the open primary
would allow any well-organized majority to take control of both political
parties, thus effectively disenfranchising
mi nority viewpoints.
A number of political writers have pointed out that Americans almost instinctively turn to special interest associations to achieve their political objectives. Our nation's political party system has traditionally been a unifying force bringing together a great many of these interests. The open primary will accelerate the weakening of our present system. This will inevitably lead to the increased strength of special interest. groups with narrower goals and objectives, It has been said that the first rule of interest group government is to "look out for yourself." It would indeed be tragic if the weakening of the political party system in America leads us to government based on this selfish philosophy.ž
26 / November 1977 / Illinois Issues