Primary elections in PA LTE

LTE is letter to editor. Mark C of Plum, a fellow Libertarian, had this one in the paper, the Pittsburgh Tribune Review about the major parties and the primary. It was in response to a pair of earlier LTEs that, well, really required a response.

The pair of letters are linked there too.

http://www.pittsbur ghlive.com/ x/pittsburghtrib /opinion/ s_677522. html


Not government's job Thursday, April 22, 2010

The letters "Whiners, join party" and "Open to meddling" (April 9, April 12 and TribLIVE.com) opposing open primaries in Pennsylvania require looking at the issue from another perspective. Suppose local Heinz stockholders used the primary to elect their board of directors without having to pay for that election. Should taxpayers fund internal operations of a private organization?

Furthermore, suppose Heinz shareholders defended this subsidy by saying, "Quit whining and buy Heinz. No one is forcing you to buy another stock." Could evidence of special privilege for a special interest be any clearer?

I'm a member of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania. We select our candidates at our state convention and at our local county meetings. Our membership bears the entire cost. Is that too much to ask of the major parties?

Political parties have the right to a closed nomination process, but not to a public subsidy of that process. Until that subsidy ends, the two major parties are just political welfare recipients open to calls for outside meddling.

Mark C of Plum
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