California Enshrines the Duopoly

by Ralph Nader

Last month, Big Business interests shamelessly dealt our already depleted democracy a devastating blow by misleading California voters into approving Proposition 14, without their opponents being able to reach the people with rebuttals. This voter initiative provides that the November elections in that state for members of Congress and state elective offices are reserved only for the top two vote-garnering candidates in the June primary.

There are no longer any party primaries per se, only one open primary. Voters can vote for any candidate on the ballot for any office. Presidential candidates are still under the old system.

Since the two major parties are the wealthiest and have the power of incumbency and favored rules, the “top two” as this “deform” is called, will either be a Republican and a Democrat or, in gerrymandered districts, two Republicans or two Democrats.

Goodbye to voter choices for smaller third party and independent candidates on the ballot in November who otherwise would qualify, with adequate signature petitions, for the ballot. Goodbye to new ideas, different agendas, candidates and campaign practices. The two Party tyranny is now entrenched in California to serve the barons of big business who outspent their opponents twenty to one for tv and radio ads and other publicity.

To seal this voter incarceration by the two-party duopoly, Proposition 14 decreed that even write-in votes in November by contrarian citizens could no longer be counted.

The Democratic and Republican Parties nominally opposed it, devoting very little money or staff to show their seriousness. Their principal complaint is that the Proposition opens a larger door for known celebrities to jump into the race and disrupt the Parties’ command-and-control systems.

The prior public debate over Proposition 14, for those who noticed the measure, was strange. First, the Ballot Book, sent to voters, misled voters by describing the measure as one that “Increases Right to Participate in Primary Elections.” In fact, it wipes out all other candidates on other lines but the top two vote-getters in November, thereby decreasing the right to participate in the general election.

Second, many of the state’s largest newspapers, except for the conservative Orange County Register, editorially endorsed Proposition 14, saying it would reduce “partisan bickering.”

As detailed in Ballot Access News, Richard Winger, the San Jose Mercury News claimed the measure would not harm minor party candidates. Their one example of a Green Party legislator was erroneous. The Monterey County Herald inaccurately claimed the League of Women Voters had endorsed the initiative. The Sacramento Bee, supported it, saying that the Green Party could well place first or second in San Francisco. The Greens never placed first or second in blanket primary years, according to the super-accurate, Mr. Winger.

Indeed, the smaller Parties all opposed Proposition 14. These included the Peace & Freedom Party, the Libertarian Party, and the Green Party. The energetic ballot-access group Free & Equal developed the leading web page (freeandequal.org) against the measure, and along with Californians for Electoral Reform used their tiny budgets to organize lightly covered press conferences to inform the public.

The final vote was 53.7% for and 46.3% against. The pro side advertisements, distorted as they were, reached millions of more voters than did the penurious opposition.

Curiously, if the by-mail voters were taken out of the equation, more voters who went to the polls on election day voted against Prop 14 (52%) than for it (48%). Winger suggests this difference may reflect the fact that election day voters benefited from the fuller public discussion of the Proposition 14, including its negatives, in the two weeks before election day.

Supporters of a “top two” scheme want to spread it throughout the country, with Michigan as the next stop. Already, Washington state enacted “top two” for the 2008 election. Predictably, it resulted in a “Democratic-Republican monopoly on the ballot [in November] for all congressional and all statewide state offices,” reports Winger.

The Washington state law is being challenged in the courts. Opponents of Proposition 14 assert they too will file a lawsuit challenging this censorious law, on constitutional grounds, in the federal courts.

The constant squeeze plays on the peoples’ democratic procedures to have a voice, to participate, challenge and dissent extends from the courts to the patsy regulatory agencies and the elections.

Ballot access obstacles are not enough for the monetized minds of corporations. Better, they say, to abolish election day altogether for minor parties and independent candidates.

What’s next for the corporate supremacists, who misled and lied to the people to get their vote for Prop 14? When will the people awake and repeal it?

Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate, lawyer, and author. His most recent book – and first novel - is, Only The Super-Rich Can Save Us. His most recent work of non-fiction is The Seventeen Traditions.

E-mailPrintShareDiscuss 48 Comments so farShow All Comment viewing options Flat list – collapsedFlat list – expandedThreaded list – collapsedThreaded list – expanded Date – newest firstDate – oldest first 10 comments per page30 comments per page50 comments per page70 comments per page90 comments per page150 comments per page200 comments per page250 comments per page300 comments per page Stanley1979 July 24th, 2010 8:04 pm

Third parties have already been rendered irrelevant ever since Perot’s 1992 showing scared the hell out of the two parties. Even in states where third parties are allowed on the ballot, people aren’t showing the interest when I ask and even those who plan to vote third party think I’m stupid to call for a local rally to help third party progressives get elected. The two parties know that most of the public has been brainwashed into thinking twiddle dee twiddle dum instead of looking at all the candidates and what they really stand for. I wished the majority of the public would wake up just like some of us former Democratic/Republican voters here are. Right now, third parties are either being put in the dustbin or to where they exist but as good as not existing.

Mr. Nader, I do not understand why you have not, over the years, championed Approval Voting (or similarly Instant-runoff voting) where . . . (Wikipedia definition) each voter may vote for (approve of) as many of the candidates as they wish. The winner is the candidate receiving the most votes. Each voter may vote for any combination of candidates and may give each candidate at most one vote.

Well, sort of. Here is Wiki’s definition of IRV:

“Instant runoff voting (IRV), also known as the Alternative Vote (AV), is a form of preferential voting (ranked choice voting). Under the IRV voting system voters rank candidates in order of preference, most commonly in single-winner elections. If no candidate is the first preference of a majority of voters, the candidate with the fewest number of first preference rankings is eliminated and that candidate’s ballots are redistributed at full value to the remaining candidates according to the next preference on each ballot. This process is repeated until one candidate obtains a majority of votes among the remaining candidates.

The term instant runoff is used because the method is said to simulate a series of runoff elections tallied in rounds, as in an exhaustive ballot election.[1] It achieves a similar effect to runoff voting without the time and expense of multiple voting rounds. The result can be found ‘instantly’ rather than after several separate votes often separated by weeks or months. IRV can also be considered a special case of single transferable vote (STV) when filling a single position.

The historical record offers multiple examples in which IRV counting rules produced a different outcome than the “first past the post” (single seat plurality) system.”

This would be a great improvement in our process I think, and would give third parties a greater chance of gaining ground as well. That is why there is so much resistance to it of course. Many of us vigorously opposed Prop 14, writing letters to the editor, setting up booths outside of malls and markets in an attempt to educate the public on the hidden result of this proposition. Alas it passed, but the struggle continues.

Glad to see a court challenge is planned for Proposition 14. CA actually allows a slim majority of voters to pass ballot measures requiring a 2/3 majority on future votes on a subject, a blatant violation of “1 person, 1 vote”. If such twisted propositions are even to be allowed on the ballot (undesirable), they should at least be required to pass by whatever percentage they seek to impose. Court challenges are *long* overdue, although the current US Supreme Court may be little help …

Hmmmm, BUT, what if we did something different?

Florida had ” pregnant” chads and threw out votes. What if California created the “sterile” chad?

A “sterile” chad is voting for BOTH of the duopoly at the same time! Wouldn’t they have to start over if enough people went “sterile?”

stutter

Not really, because in the US Duopoly System, only *ONE* person need vote. The entire voting population can be one person, and it will still be counted a valid election, winner take all.

It reeks.

Anyone who really wants chapter and verse on why a third-party initiative only works in principle at the national level need only read the book written by Nader’s campaign manager, Theresa Amato: “Grand Illusion: The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny”. It’s *truly* frightening, and brings to mind the reason for the Second Amendment.

(hmmm)…

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“i wanna tell ya something son… your future looks even bleaker than mine… and sadly enough there’s nothing i can do about it”…

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“well gee dad… why be content to throw words around with your hands tied like that?… when you can still learn to know a little bit better and help loosen the strings and open the knots!”…

tell your lawmakers… wake up our government!… to care about the basics!… and stop misleading!… and end this war!… and don’t waste anymore!…

and here’s one of many links you can use… http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/officials

the best of wishes’n'ways’n'todays to each’n'everyone!…

If you want Democracy you will have to move to places like Venezuala or Bolivia.

But , if the problem is not combated here in the USA, how long would it take for our troops, our corporations, and our money to topple even those governments?

“When will the people awake and repeal it?”

Oh Ralph, the “People” are so far off in snoozeyland I don’t think there’s any coming back. Look around the world at all the defanged, depoliticized, disenfranchized, impoverished, subjugated human beings who long ago lost their ability to manage their own affairs. The progression is ignorance – sleep – impotence – servitude. If the power oligarchies of the world are any indicator, we will not awake, even when things get really awful.

But call me a cockeyed Pollyanna, I think I see clearbluesky’s silver lining. I’m optimistic that the structure will collapse from within. We should be cheering for the mind-boxed bozos who will not have a clue what to do when this edifice of war and gluttony starts to come unriveted. We could live to see what Vollegut called The Grand Awhoom. It might actually be fun, though perhaps not for all of us. But surely for a little while there, like during the prophetic Grand Awhoom of 911, everybody will be wide awake.

My state of Oklahoma allows us to pick between only Democrat and Republican when voting for president but third parties elsewhere on the ballot. I’ve talked to people who voted Republican in 2004 and 2008 and they said that if they had a third party to look up, they’d vote them or Democrat. If third parties are removed in CA, there could an anti-duopoly backlash against the Democrats. If California goes red just like Oklahoma, look for the Democrats to maybe campaign on repealing Prop 14 if their Republicans are bad campaigning has no effect. Otherwise, Ralph is being too pessimistic in assuming that the Republicans will let this go into effect. Here’s how Republicans could stop this.

- They can take this to court and have it declared unconstitutional.

- If Meg Whitman wins the race, she will definitely fight to remove Prop 14.

I’m in OK too, but have been a US citizen only since 2008 so not very familiar with “the system”.

Can you enlighten me please – How is it that the state can
allow us only “to pick between Democrat and Republican when voting for president”?
This sounds unconstitutional to me….but what do I know? What goes on in this crazy state, and among its senators, defies imagination.

Here’s some info I got from http://www.okvoterchoice.org/#2choices

The problem is our election laws. Oklahoma has arguably the most undemocratic ballot access laws in America with petitioning requirements of 51,781 signatures to secure full party ballot access and 37,027 signatures to place a Presidential candidate.

Hope this helps.

The state allows United States citizens to vote for anyone we want.

The corporations decide who are the candidates.

The corporate media makes sure most people don’t understand any of this.

Thanks Revenge Girl. Yes, the corporate media (is there any other kind?) has a lot to answer for.

Bring America Back !!!!

**Merry ‘ol Ralphie does a nice study here of the Left Coast situation in Calif !

**I wish He would do a take-apart Study of the defining event of our Decade==Sept 11, 2001 ! Instead of being a bad-boy candidate in the last minutes of 2012 !

**Calif loved its Ronnie Reagan and seems to love its Arnold Schwartzenegger, and loved its Jerry Brown–who was married to a celebrity singer as I recall !

**Now that’s how to overcome the duopoly is get a very favorite Celebrity to declare and run for Gov’na !

**In a couple years I bet Miley Cyrus will be popular enough to make a run, and rumor is by then her husband, Justin Timberlake can double as her Road—er, her Campaign Manager.

**So Nader, don’t bother with the hardcover book on Calif, as it is all much simpler than you think. Enshrinement of Celebritism. Martin Sheen in the West Wing !

I’m not worried if they elect Crazy Meg, the next election only people making over a million will be allowed to vote. Voting will be by internet as all civil service members will be sacked and all state functions outsourced.

Or they won’t elect Crazy Meg.. Either way the sun will rise and set, Some will win, Some will lose. Nodody else seems to have as crazy a set of ideas on how to run Ca.

As union member I’m told to vote for Brown otherwise Meg will have me and all of us shot. Brown is in his 70s, I don’t give my 78yr old grandfather the car keys. Ahhhhhhhh! I don’t know.

Maybe it’s safest just leave CA. like those rats who leave sinking ships.

>^^<

Let me guess, above poster is among the voting majority, the 51% most aggressive and wealthy, those who love to generate confusion in society.

AGGRESSIVE MAJORITY

Such a thing as this could only happen if the voting majority in California were the 51% most aggressive and wealthy.

And so, what if since the beginning of civilization the 51% most aggressive and wealthy controlled all governments? Surely world history would not have changed in the slightest.

German government is now taking giant steps to reestablish an all-powerful military, India is getting supper brutal in Kashmir, Columbia is about to start bombing Venezuela, the Korean War is about to go nuclear, Israel is about to start World War Three in the Middle-East and all because it pleases the upper half of society, all those most aggressive and wealthy.

There has to be a silverlining in this somewhere. Hummmm, I wonder what it is?

REPUBLICIANS
1% High Society
10% Country Club class
10% Big Business class

DEMOCRATES
10% Small Business class
20% Educated middle-class

TOTAL
51% most aggressive and wealthy — Our voting majority

NON VOTERS
49% laboring class, the no high school diploma class

There are places in California were a republican couldn’t get elected to office if he/she passed out $100 bills, GMO’s are prohibited, and there is no voter irregularity because everyone would know in a hot second. Then there are places that host blackwater training sites…it is a big state.

I would think this Prop 14 violates the free speech clause in the Constitution and should be repealed.

Note the timing! Just as more and more people are becoming fed up and disenchanted with business as usual (as conducted by two utterly sold-out establishment parties), and prepared to seek OTHER… the ways and means to effectively mobilize the power of “that other” are being pre-emptively paralyzed. Ah, isn’t it great to live in a democracy, and watch all those troops bludgeon citizens across the world to get with THE program?

Sioux, I agree with your analysis on the timing. In 2008, 30% of the vote in Pelosi’s district went to Cindy Sheehan. The Democrats can only be afraid of Cindy Sheehan or similar making it to 40% or higher as well as other progressive independents making gains elsewhere in CA. From that history alone, I can’t be too surprised.

time is everything… Thanks

Ralph is correct. This Prop, together with the failure of Prop 15 (which would have taken a small step toward election finance reform in CA) are signs of the entrenched duopoly becoming enshrined.

And here I was hoping to vote straight-ticket “Fuck You” this November. It’s a joke. We live in a country so fascistic and twisted our former president is now a “material supporter of terrorism” for giving peace advice in the Middle East:

http://www.aclu.org/national-security/supreme-court-rules-material-support-law-can-stand

Funny thing is, Jimmy Carter is no friend of Ralph Nader or progressives. In that sense I guess it’s karma biting Jimmy in the ass for supporting DLC puppets like Clinton and Obama.

American fascism, though? We’re deep, deep, deep in it now. People are in denial, this is Germany circa 1934/35 and the next few years will see the hard fascism begin in earnest as the empire undergoes its death rattle.

Carter is a friend and ally of Ralph. Nader advised Carter several times during Carter’s Presidency. Heck, they even played softball together in Plains.

http://www.votenader.org/blog/2008/04/10/jimmy-carter/

One link stating Nader’s approval of our best elder statesman. There are several more available with your search engine.

You still can vote for non-duopoly candidates in California this year. Prop 14 doesn’t go into effect until 2012.

You can still vote for non-duopoly candidates ALL OVER OUR NATION!

Don’t vote for the corporate lackeys wherever you live. The bastards will still win…but you can open a hole in the system that can encourage independent candidates and new parties to form. We must break the two party system. There is no lesser evil between the Ds and the Rs. Look around you. Look at the creeping fascism in our nation. We are now living in a police state controlled by the plutocracy.

You vote for either of the corporate duo you give them legitimacy. Don’t do it.

You got it right!

A Voter’s Strike would send a message on election day.

Along with a None of the Above free choice for those unhappy voters, a third opinion on the system itself will make history.

It would mean we don’t have to spend a fortune and play their money game up against the MIC Banksters here.

Over and Out.

Rather than a “None of the above” option, I say (just for fun) let people use their vote to TAKE AWAY a vote from someone they HATE, instead of casting their vote for someone they don’t like at all; which are the choices we have with the Corporate party and it’s two right wings.

That would have brought some of the 49 million non-voters out of the woodwork in droves back when Bush was running for president.

“Rather than a “None of the above” option, I say (just for fun) let people use their vote to TAKE AWAY a vote from someone they HATE”

Interesting idea …

Welcome back, Revenge Girl!

Thanks VAGreen! (although, I can’t run for office.. I have a past)

Born in Hawii??

BawAHahahahahaha!

>^^<

They no longer even want a hint of democracy…
they could have at least mandated a “none of the above” on all ballots.

I wonder who will still count “write ins” not as a vote for some candidate but record all of them together along with blanks as “no votes” which is still a virtual “none of the above” …but since I have been pushing this, for years as a last stand at the polls, they will probably stop counting even “no votes”.

But then they will not know how many people voted or if they still do, the No Votes or virtual “none of the above” will be the difference between the total people who voted minus the votes for the top two candidates.

It should be hard for them to do that but they probably will try to continue torturing me.

Jeb Bush is waiting to try and finish us off for good… (over my dead body!)

In two years I wonder which party if any, will even pretend to be the peace party.

“”

The biggest state leads the way. Slowly, incre-mentally, softly-softly, fascism is formalized.

Quiz:
Now, where did that happen before?

If the people did not wake up in 2000 when SCOTUS unconstitutionally appointed the president, they will never wake up. As my friend, Doc Tvedten from 911dvdproject.com and rediscover911.com quotes from an old Chinese saying……..”You cannot awaken a person pretending to be asleep”.

I think it has been going on in Texas since the civil war, there is an undereducated population, virtually no public health, an aggressive death penalty, the most billionairs and the highest child poverty.

How can the majority of the people wake up to what’s going on when most get their information from corporate-owned news, and never bother to read the voter pamphlets, and refuse to even consider what anyone knowing what’s going on tells them?

SHADRE: The points you raise should never be under-estimated. Thank you for pointing them out. Some in this forum presume that exhausted, over-worked citizens (some who possess average intellects) will find the passion to seek out all the news that the media elites deem unfit to print (or broadcast). The fact that so many DO get it, in spite of the dis-information campaigns that dominate media circuits 24/7 is itself somewhat miraculous.

Don’t give up hope!

Here’s the thing: the Obama campaign of ’08 may have been a hidden top-down charade of a grassroots campaign, but it definitely showed what is possible. All we need to do is organize a truly grassroots political enity. And we really should be able to do this, just as the Obama campaign did, organizing and fundraising with the aid of the Internet.

Don’t give up and don’t just get mad. Instead, cooperate and incorporate!

This is a joke, right?

Do you have a better plan?

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