The stupidity and arrogance of California Democrats

California Senate Democrats should have accepted Republican Abel Maldonado’s open primary deal and passed a budget long before they did.

It shows the arrogance of the “left-hand” side of the two-party duopoly in fine, or not so fine, fettle, like a poster at Kevin Drum’s blog calling it “insidious.”

If anything, if third parties play it right, should this get voter approval (I hope Der Ahhnold comes out for it strong and early, to offset the MASSIVE Republican and Democratic attack ads) will be better off than before.

Now, will the system, similar to Louisiana’s, help or hurt third-party candidates?

I say help, overall – if third parties use their brains.

First and foremost, in an open primary system, third parties CANNOT afford to have pre-primary internecine warfare. They must caucus and settle on a single official candidate for each race.

Let’s put it this way – if Darrell Issa is dead-set against it, it MUST be good, right?

“The concern is that you will institutionalize a process in which you will have circumstances in which neither a Democrat or Republican is on the ballot,” said Kurt Bardella, a spokesman for Representative Darrell Issa, a Republican from Southern California.

That all said, California Dems were idiots for opposing the Maldonado deal as long as they did.

Given the diversity of California, I HUGELY welcome the open primary system, and hope we see a Green, from SF, a Socialist from Santa Cruz, and even a Libertarian from the interior north, all win elective office -- the higher the better.