Against Publicly Funded Party Primaries: Why should the people have to subsidize the primary elections of fringe groups like the Democrats and Republicans?

A few years ago, Washington state instituted a "top two" style primary system like that recently adopted in California.  From a letter to the editor of The Olympian in Washington state:

I am increasingly disgusted by the continuing efforts of the Democratic and Republican parties to overturn the "Top 2 Primary" system. In fact, they are convincing me that in the next election I should vote for a third-party candidate - anyone but a Democrat or a Republican.

Political parties were mistrusted by America’s Founders, for good reason. Political parties were not established by our Constitution. Why should my tax dollars be spent helping them choose their candidates? If they want to have an election in which only candidates recognized by the respective parties can run under the party label, let them finance their own primaries. Taxpayers have made it plain that they do not want to finance elections for the benefit of the parties. What part of “no” do the parties not understand?

A Declaration of Independents in Washington State

Back in April, I wrote a number of posts on the Independent Network, a UK umbrella group dedicated to networking and facilitating the campaigns of independent candidates for public office. At the time, I noted that there seem to be few, if any, such organizations here in the United States. In Washington State, a group of five independent candidates for the state legislature have banded together to create the Washington Independents. The West Seattle Herald has just published a profile of the group:

Ask Independent 34th District House of Representatives candidate Geoffrey "Mac" McElroy about Democrats and Republicans and he will tell you, "The party's over." McElroy has networked with four other Independent candidates running for the same office, but in different districts. The result is their "Declaration of Independents" website. While they have disparate views on some political issues, they are unified in what they cite as "special interest politics and the failure of the two-party system to represent voters."

In addition to McElroy, the others are Craig Mayberry of the 42nd District which includes Bellingham and rural areas eastward and north to the Canadian border, Ken Nichols of the 27th District, in Tacoma, Tim Sutinen of the 19th District with the Columbia River as its southern border, and the Pacific Ocean on its Western edge, and Rich Carson of the 18th District, just east of the 19th District. It includes Columbia, Clark, and Cowlitz counties. There are 98 races for House seats in Washington State.

In their "Declaration of Independents" the candidates write:

We, the Independent candidates of the state of Washington, hereby proclaim that we are united in our belief that the political parties serve special interest money and do not represent the voters, and we want to get the special interest money and influence out of the government process and let citizens have a voice.

As Independents we don't want to create a new party. We also recognize that we have different ideas and political issues we are passionate about – so we don't always agree on specific issues. However, we want to create a dialogue in Olympia that is rational and productive when it comes to creating fiscally and socially responsible legislation that better serves Washingtonians.

Political freedom and independence today begins with freedom and independence from the Democratic and Republican parties, from the tyranny of the two-party state and duopoly system of government.