Commentary: Dear Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee:
Please rethink your heavy-handed warning that you'll boycott any consultant who works with a primary challenger to a Democratic incumbent.
Primaries are how we choose our candidates – and leave everyone feeling s/he had a fair shot. Involvement in primaries can strengthen ties to the Party. Telling us we can't try weakens those.
Political parties aren't mentioned in our Constitution. The two-party system has done both good and harm. Our government has grown so complex that the parties function almost as an unofficial arm of the government. The parties have tremendous power – and, I would argue, some obligation to use that power wisely – but are not subject to constitutional restraints on governments.
Consider the context: heavy criticism of the Party for allegedly tipping the 2016 scales toward Hillary against Bernie, and criticism of DCCC assistance to favored primary candidates in 2018. Your heavy-handed effort to help retain incumbent Democratic congresspersons risks increasing disaffection among Democrats and independents.
Wresting control of government back from the orange-haired narcissist and his cynical enablers is critical for our nation's future – and perhaps for our continued existence as a democratic republic.
I understand your desire to run the strongest candidates in general elections, and to avoid the expense and potential rancor of primary campaigns.
But as a Democrat, I wish to be free to run for Congress or to support the best candidate. We have a wonderful Congresswoman; but if we had a corrupt or incompetent congressperson, I would actively seek a better alternative. Your duty is to maintain the majority – which your rigid commitment to established figures may endanger. If you think Rep. Ocasio-Cortez is hurting the party, I've got some interesting video to show you.
While I understand that supporting a challenger won't endear me to the incumbent, formalizing that pressure to conform is repugnant and unethical. Since the Democratic Party is not a government entity, you may not be violating the U.S. Constitution; but you're taking a stand against liberty. (Ironically, in the political arena you're acting in a manner the antitrust laws might not allow if you were capitalists seeking unfair profits.)
I don't favor term limits. A senior congressperson can use contacts and knowledge of the system to be highly effective, and seniority increases power; but many voters distrust politicians; and rigging the primaries to give incumbents an unfair advantage will encourage the rest of us to counter with term-limits to level the playing field.
Public faith in our system has been weakening for decades. Trump, Putin, and Jerry Mander have it on the ropes, drooling. Why knock it into the second row?
Your abuse of power will be self-defeating in the long run. For most of us, there's a tension between strict party loyalty and viewing our party association in the larger context of our political beliefs and values. There's both a gravity holding us in the party, and a centrifugal force. You are embittering many of your best people, particularly the all-important younger generations. Consider that the Party's great strength is its openness to change and to different ethnicities and genders; closing primaries to young challengers undermines that strength.
Absent some compelling justification of your conduct, I will contribute nothing to the DCCC, find other ways to support appropriate candidates, urge others to avoid the DCCC, and mark all your emails as spam.