Keen! The state GOP in Virginia will require folks to sign a loyalty oath before they can cast a vote in the Republican primary. The oath isn’t loyalty to the US (which would be insulting), but to the party
If you’re planning to vote in Virginia’s February Republican presidential primary, be prepared to sign an oath swearing your Republican loyalty. The State Board of Elections on Monday approved a state Republican Party request to require all who apply for a GOP primary ballot first vow in writing that they’ll vote for the party’s presidential nominee next fall.
At first blush, it looks like they’re afraid that if Rudy gets the nod, the anti-Rudy folks might support an alternative candidate (ditto for any of the other GOP hopefuls).
But there might be some (shades of Illegal Alien Xenophobia) paranoia at work here, too.
There’s no practical way to enforce the oath. Virginia doesn’t require voters to register by party, and for years the state’s Republicans have fretted that Democrats might meddle in their open primaries.
Egads! Some of those Democratic bounders might pollute our precious electoral fluids! I know! Let’s make them sign an oath! That’ll put them in their places!
Goofy.
(via Terry)
Hi:
I believe the reason they did this is so that Democrats ‘can’t’ register as Republicans, vote in the primary for the worst candidate (e.g. least chance of winning), and then vote Democratic in the main election, thus giving their true (Democratic) party some sort of advantage.
It’s not clear how this “oath” actually prevents that (aside from causing guilt).
And even if it were the case, it’s not a terribly reasonable requirement anyway. If I’m a Huckabee supporter and the party nominates Rudy, is it “right” to have made me sign an oath to support someone who stand counter to my positions (ditto vice-versa, of course)? I don’t believe the party label does (or should) trump all else.
For that matter, isn’t there also a concern about Republicans doing the same thing to the Dems?
And, for that matter, I’d rather assume the best of people, that they are voting for a person they want to see win. That is, after all, the principle behind a democracy (which is what we’re trying to export to the world, or so I hear). If there are Dems that vote in the Republican primary (or vice-versa), I’d assume they’re doing so in order to see a candidate they feel better about potentially seeing in office (i.e., someone closer to the center), in the face of someone from the party fringe being nominated and possibly winning. That’s the strength of an open primary system; if the Virginia GOP doesn’t like that, they should push for party registration as part of primaries, like many other states do.
Some might say that those two oaths would be mutually exclusive.
My mind wandered while reading this, and I began wondering if the Republicans would vote for a Klingon. Or would a Ferengi be more palatable? Who would be most likely to vote for a Vulcan?
Many of the Founding Fathers had an intense aversion to parties and party politics (though most eventually succumbed to it over time).
Vulcans wouldn’t get votes from anyone. Nobody’s interested in a dispassionate discussion of the facts.
Truth and facts have the same weight as lies and fantasy in our current place in time…
All of which would be deemed highly illogical, end of discussion
Also, the whole Loyalty Oath thing has been around for the past two election cycles, and was needed to even get into George II’s events during the last election cycle, so not new news.
Just the SOP of the Partei so that only “true” Americans will be in attendance.