Partisan elections drive politics into a cycle of revenge. Idaho should end them | Opinion
Last month I read an Idaho opinion piece proposing an end to all “nonpartisan elections.” It cited a lot of out-of-state examples and was written, not surprisingly, by a leader of a partisan organization.
I think the exact opposite is true. It’s time to end partisan elections.
The Founders feared the impact of partisanship, and for good reason. George Washington spent much of his Farewell Address warning “in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects” of the “alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge,” which he called a “frightful despotism.” John Adams similarly said there was “nothing I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties” which he said “is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.” Jefferson said that “the greatest good we can do our country is to heal its party divisions... .” Hamilton described the Constitution as an attempt to “abolish factions, and to unite all parties... .” Similar statements from our Founders are replete.
I regret to say, and we all know it — the Founders’ fears have come true. And our parties are complicit.
Partisan elections arbitrarily divide the country — and every state and district where they are held — into red and blue, the perennial false fight of “good” and “evil.” And the great irony is that each party calls itself good and the other evil, like warring spouses, to the point where some even flippantly call for a “national divorce.”
Partisan elections keep our nation forever stuck in the deadly “black-or-white” logical fallacy, where two alternative groups are presented as the only possibilities, where in fact more possibilities exist. When you see your neighbor of a different party as the “wrong” side of a binary set of choices, then it doesn’t matter what they really believe.
Partisan elections allow candidates and individuals to hide behind the letter. You don’t really need to say what you believe if you are in the “right” party and have the “right” letter after your name. Partisan elections stifle good decision-making on the issues, and ignore the fact that those issues have a vast multitude of possible outcomes.
Partisan elections prevent good conversation. When the other side is the “wrong” or “evil” side, you turn to your partisan peers and create echo chambers of bad thought and bad outcomes.
Partisan elections also prevent good representation. Parties gerrymander districts to avoid election opponents, and candidates direct their attention to their party’s desires instead of their district as a whole.
As Washington stated, partisan elections pit sides in a never-ending battle “sharpened by the spirit of revenge.” A government cannot last if it is stuck on the grandfather clock pendulum of decision-making — back and forth and back and forth, with no lasting and consensus-driven solutions.
Partisan elections and partisanship prevent us from exploring election options other than our dinosaur two-party system, for fear we will harm our beloved party institutions — what’s best for the people be damned.
Partisan elections and partisanship will, if left unchecked, tear our country apart.
We are at a crossroads where we can still make changes. There are other alternatives to our current system of partisan elections. Mind you this is not a plea to get rid of parties, but if we aren’t willing to reconsider our problematic election institutions, once all is said and done we will not be able to blame the “other party.” In truth, we will have no one to blame but ourselves.
Sean J. Coletti is the mayor of Ammon.
