Why Won't Bernie Sanders Embrace Nonpartisan Election Reform?
John OpdyckePublished: 21 Aug, 2015
1 min read
On Thursday, Open Primaries President and CEO John Opdycke and Dr. Jessie Fields, a founding member of the Independent Party in New York City and Open Primaries board member, co-authored an op-ed in Newsweek titled, "Bernie Sanders Should Embrace Political Reform."
Here is an excerpt:
"You would think that Sanders’s position as an anti-establishment lightning rod would make him more, not less, radical when it comes to freeing our democratic process from partisan control. Paradoxically, he has staked out a rather tame position on issues of political process and remaking our political culture. When it comes to democracy reform, independents across the country are asking him, “Why are you protecting the establishment?” Sanders is an independent. And he is not the only one. According to the most recent Gallup Poll, independents now make up 43 percent of the electorate. More 18-year-olds register as independents than Democrats and Republicans combined. The issue that brings independents together is political reform, not ideology. Independents are critical of the partisan dominance of the electoral system and want sweeping changes to our system, including nonpartisan primaries, fair impartial redistricting, a nonpartisan Federal Election Commission (FEC), inclusionary presidential debates, an end to sore loser laws and more."
Read the full op-ed here.
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