A Page from Our Book
Page 58 – Nomination in the Party Context
We previously described nomination as the first naming of potential candidates. Originally the Electors’ responsibility only pertained to nomination in this sense. In the context of the original electoral system, no other meaning would accomplish the goal of searching for the best possible candidates. In party politics, electability trumps quality. The emphasis is on electing someone who will promote the party agenda. There is a struggle within each party to come up with an electable candidate. The resolution of this conflict ends the intra-party contest and begins the inter-party contest. Nomination at this stage in party politics is only the formal announcement of which candidate will run against candidates from opposing parties. At that point nominations are not dealing with naming the best possible candidates but with ending one contest and starting another. With that in mind, all aspects of an election are looked at in a very different light—a light that resembles the grim darkness of war! No wonder we talk about the lesser of two evils. How else could we describe a situation where the success of one side is measured in terms of the destruction and defeat of the other? We don’t talk about high-quality candidates. We talk only of our candidate being better than the alternative.
