Direct primary

“ The plan for depriving the minority of the power to control the selection of public officials, which is now rapidly gaining adherents among the advocates of political reform, is the direct primary. That some such change in our method of nominating candidates is necessary to make the so-called popular election of public officials anything more than an empty form is apparent to any intelligent student of American politics. ”

“ It is maintained that the Direct Primary brings out a larger vote than would otherwise be possible. Better candidates are secured by means of the Direct Primary, it is claimed, because the nomination of individuals depends upon the presentation of their claims to the voters, rather than upon winning the favor of party bosses. ”

“ Then there is the direct primary—the real one, not the New York one—and that, too, the Progressives offer as a check on the special interests. Most clearly of all does it seem to me that this change is wholly good—for every State. The system of party government is not written in our Constitutions, but it is none the less a vital and essential part of our form of government. In that system the party leaders should serve and carry out the will of their own party. ”

“ Party members are more interested in the Direct Primary than in the local caucus or primary because in the Direct Primary they actually aid in the direct selection of party candidates. The local caucus or primary, on the other hand, does not directly select the more important party candidates, but can only choose delegates to a nominating convention. Because the Direct Primary increases the control of the individual over party policies, it encourages active political work on the part of the rank and file. ”

“ Genuinely patriotic and national parties may exist; but a genuinely patriotic faction within a party would be a plant of much rarer growth. From every point of view, consequently, the direct primary has its doubtful aspects. ”

“ The candidates receiving the highest number of votes become the nominees of their party. The direct primary is now used quite widely throughout the United States and is believed to be a great improvement over the old method, though it does not always work as well as was expected of it. The truth is that ANY organization is open to abuse by clever people who wish to abuse it, and NO political organization will work effectively unless the voters are intelligent and eternally vigilant. ”

“ Objections to Direct Primaries are made that few voters take the trouble to vote at them, and that the choice of candidates is very limited and is still controlled by party leaders. They are also very expensive for a candidate, especially if he is not backed by these leaders. To stand any chance of nomination a candidate has to canvass the voters and make himself known to them. A poor man cannot afford to enter a contest in a direct primary unless funds are supplied him or unless he expects to recoup himself later at the public expense. ”

“ But instead of aiming at simplicity and direct methods, the Direct Primary bill, introduced in the Senate by Wright and in the Assembly by Stanton [35] , threw a confusing mass of partisan detail about the selection of the primary candidate. It was made practically impossible for an independent citizen believing in the principles of a given party, but withholding his right to exercise the citizen's judgment at the polls, to become a primary candidate. ”

“ There have been in the past plenty of unworthy Governors and Congressmen elected, just as there have been plenty of bad Senators elected. Similarly, if the direct primary merely means additional expense without compensating advantage in wise and just action, the gain will be nil. At present there are cities where the direct primary obtains, in which, as far as I can see, the boss system is about as firmly rooted as in those cities where the direct primary has not been introduced. ”

“ After a long and unsatisfactory experience in the United States of the nomination of candidates for public office by conventions of delegates, the people have been rapidly discarding that system within the last few years, replacing it by the institution of primary elections, at which candidates for the subsequent election are selected by direct vote. ”

“ The question staring us in the face in American politics to-day is—What possible good can direct government do us if party organization remains in control? The movement for direct primaries, popular choice of United States senators, presidential primaries, initiative and referendum, the recall etc., will bear little fruit unless something is done at the same time to break the power of the party. ”

“ Under the present primary system, in view of the small number of those participating in primaries, an insignificant percentage of the voters at a primary could nominate a candidate of whose qualifications and personal character the majority of the party were wholly ignorant, or a candidate whom an overwhelming majority would utterly repudiate. ”

“ The primary is an advance on the secret caucus with its choice of men for the highest office by a few partisan politicians only, whose business it is to keep party lines strong and to make them carry their candidate into office. The primary, however, we see, is a very expensive method and open to many dangers, and progressive students of political methods are not satisfied with it. Why can we not move, and strongly, for preferential voting? ”

“ Next the attack was positive, in the interests of the people at large, endeavoring through the official ballot to deprive parties of those artificial and factitious means of success which depend only upon the machinery of organization. Later the problem is the internal organization of the parties themselves, the legalized primary, the very heart of the party situation. The party primary is peculiar to American self-government. The primary is democratic in its origin. It has become oligarchical through the necessity of organization. ”

“ It therefore follows that that system, or primary, which will get out the largest number of votes or the greatest expression of the people on the choice of candidates is, of necessity, the best primary law. ”

“ It is the work of all those officially connected with this centralized organization to win adherents to the party standard, to place issues before the voters, to stimulate interest in candidates, to organize meetings and clubs, to collect funds for party support, to secure the registration of voters, and to see that they get to the polls. Party opinion is formed by means of personal contacts, campaign literature, speeches, parades, and every manner of propaganda. Party opinion is formally expressed through the caucus, the primary, the convention, and the regular election. ”

“ The insistent demand for direct primaries, the initiative, the referendum and the recall indicate a disposition on the part of the rank and file to have more to say in our political and civic life. The object of these institutions is to make our representatives more truly responsible to those whom they are supposed to represent. ”

“ Patriotic principles rather than shrewd organization are the banner of party success. A SOCIOLOGICAL VIEW OF SOVEREIGNTY 7$
A primary-election law of this kind does not lessen the hold of parties upon the hearts of the people. It rather, as with the official ballot, turns the emphasis upon persuasion instead of coercion, and so increases the devotion to party and the acqui- escence of the minority in the leadership of the majority. Neither does it deprive parties of their eminent leadership which has justified its position by the decisive criterion, success. ”

“ Direct primaries, said the Editor, negatived the representative method in party and election, just as the initiative and referendum did in legislation. Though hot so fundamentally dangerous they made their evil seen in destruction of rational political effort and of deliberation; in spites and revenges of factionalism; in elimination of men of character, independence, distinction, and: ability; in election of men of ambitious mediocrity, who never could obtain consideration under any system that was representative. ”

“ It appears, therefore, that every benefit of indirect election which is attainable at all is attainable under direct; that such of the benefits expected from it as would not be obtained under direct election will just as much fail to be obtained under indirect ”

“ I certainly would not indicate a preference in a State primary merely because a candidate, otherwise liberal in outlook, had conscientiously differed with me on any single issue. I should be far more concerned about the general attitude of a candidate toward present day problems and his own inward desire to get practical needs attended to in a practical way. We all know that progress may be blocked by outspoken reactionaries and also by those who say "yes" to a progressive objective, but who always find some reason to oppose any specific proposal to gain that objective. ”

“ We mean to be perfectly understood on this point, and therefore openly disclaim all steel-traps, all principle, as it is called—all party—all politics. Our only guide shall be good, sound, practical common sense, applicable to the business and bosoms of men engaged in every-day life. We shall support no party—be the organ of no faction or coterie, and care nothing for any election or any candidate from president down to a constable. ”

“ Would you say that he votes “as a matter of political principle” who steadily votes his party ticket, no matter whether he approves of the principles and policies of the party or not — perhaps merely to get an office? ”

“ Will our efforts make our Government more representative, not less representative? Will reform make our elected representatives more likely to promote the public interest, even when it conflicts with powerful special interests? ”

“ If that branch of our service which is purely administrative and essentially non-political is to be taken out of partisan politics, then some President brought in by a change of party in power must make a beginning. ”

“ If the majority is to mould the policy of the party, if the demos is to be kept constantly awake and brought out to vote after the excitement of the hour has passed away, it is necessary that the party be organized. ”

“ The new Primary law was almost equal to the full suffrage, as where one party is so largely in the majority the primaries decide the elections, and it gave a great impetus to the movement throughout the country, especially in the southern States. ”

“ An open primary differs from a blanket primary in that, although as in the blanket primary any person, regardless of party affiliation, may vote for a party's nominee, his choice is limited to that party's nominees for all offices. ”

“ To turn such a situation to advantage for the public good will be, in a great measure, the task of the “independent voter,” who has of late made himself felt, and grown to the estate of a distinct political force. ”

“ Our parties have titular leaders at the polls in the persons of candidates, and nominal creeds in the resolutions of conventions, but no select few in whom to trust for guidance in the general policy of legislation, or to whom to look for suggestions of opinion. What man, what group of men, can speak for the Republican party or for the Democratic party? When our most conspicuous and influential politicians say anything about future legislation, no one supposes that they are speaking for their party, as those who have authority ”

“ Not only has each leading political party made the attempt, but the task has been undertaken by the Greenbackers, the Populists and by those who would form a party of their own, or be independent of all parties. ”

“ If the voters of the party were in truth the source of authority within the party, then a means had to be devised of ascertaining their will. The democratic principle, in short, had to be applied to party. ”

“ On the other hand there are some practical objections to the primary as a method of making nominations and a vigorous fight is now being waged to abolish it. A primary means an additional election with all the attendant campaigning and expense. The total vote cast at a primary is often small; hence the candidate who gains the nomination may or may not be the real choice of his party. ”

“ One can afford to be in a minority, but he cannot afford to be wrong; if he is in a minority and right, he will some day be in the majority.
The activities of politics center about the election of candidates to office, and the official, under our system, represents both the party to which he belongs and the whole body of his constituency. He has two temptations to withstand; first, the temptation to substitute his own judgment for the judgment of his constituents, and second, the temptation to put his pecuniary interests above the interests of those for whom he acts. ”

“ You Democrats, and your candidate, in the main are in favor of laying down in advance a platform—a set of party positions—as a unit, and then of forcing the people, by every sort of appliance, to ratify them, however unpalatable some of them may be. ”

“ This is what I mean by saying that I recognize in political life objects far superior to the pretended advantage of my party. Such a doctrine may appear strangely heretic to those who know nothing higher than obtaining at the polls a majority for their candidates, whoever their candidates may be. ”

“ It is our business to lay down certain principles and propositions of policy, and we have to present to the suffrage of the people, men for the highest offices of the Republic, who, if elected, are to carry those principles and propositions into a living reality. ”

“ A party, old or new, making itself in its organization, as well as its professed principles, a trustworthy champion of these reforms, would count them among its most faithful members. And when at last these reforms shall have become so firmly rooted in the laws of the Republic and the practices of our political life that they cease to be an issue in our elections, differences of opinion on other subjects will form the dividing line and the Independents no doubt will attach themselves to this or that party according to the opinions they hold on the questions then most important. ”