Democracy is a messy affair, beginning with Tuesday’s party precinct caucuses in Colorado and other states.
“Party” is key. Caucuses allow neighbors of the same general political persuasion to advocate for their party’s candidates and issues, and to gauge the breadth and depth of their support before advancing them to the county assembly, the next level of selection. The two major parties use caucuses to energize their members.
The bar is low — 15 percent of the caucus vote for candidates — but there is a bar. A candidate with just his family behind him will not get any further. It is also embarrassing for an incumbent with a well-known name who exceeds the 15 percent overall to not make the cut in all the precincts. Resolutions — free college tuition, all charter schools, a higher gas tax and protect Social Security, you name it — will be floated and put to a vote before moving them to the county level.
It is the resolutions that indicate how much and what kind of government we should live under. Republicans, usually believing in less government, may include the same topics but begin their resolutions with “limited,” or “no.” That is all part of the political conversations in schools, the grange halls, the fairgrounds and elsewhere on Tuesday evening.
Caucuses get underway at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Be early, both parties say. See the coverage in this newspaper — either in print or online — for the 11 caucus locations in Montezuma County.
In recent years it has been the Republicans who have been more aggressive at the caucus level, putting forth candidates and resolution issues in a somewhat organized fashion, then defending them at county, congressional and state stages. Doing that has helped put Republican candidates and issues at the forefront. Democrats have been more laid back. But this year Republicans will not be including a presidential preference question and tally, saying that because of party rules no preference gives the state delegates at the national convention the flexibility to support a candidate still in contention. With so much interest nationwide in the presidential contest, that gap takes away a big reason for Republicans to participate in their caucus this year.
Party registration in Colorado ended two months ago. The unaffiliated do not caucus, and cannot choose one of the two major parties at the last minute.
The unaffiliated represent about one-third of registered voters in Colorado, thus excluding a large percentage of the population in the succession of stages that brings forth candidates and issues. A question on November’s ballot may change that, making it possible for the unaffiliated to pick a party caucus for the evening without giving up their unaffiliated status. Whether the political parties will be supportive of that significant change, however, is uncertain. Caucuses are party events.
Throw yourself into the political fray on Tuesday night and share your enthusiasm for candidates and issues. That is democracy.
