Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Spreading Hope to All Mankind: Bacon’s Rebellion Publishes Again

—

by

James A. Bacon
in

The Nov. 20, 2006, edition of Bacon’s Rebellion is now online. You can view the full Web page in all its glory here. Better yet, click here for a free subscription — never miss an issue!

Here are today’s columns:

Big Grid
Monster power plants and transmission lines provide Virginians with relatively cheap, reliable electricity, but they have hidden risks and costs. It’s time to transition to a system of distributed generation.
by James A. Bacon
Wind Shear
Virginia is an energy-rich state, and the mother lode sits off the coast. Electric power generated by off-shore wind turbines could slice our dependence on polluting fossil fuels within a decade or two.
by James A. Bacon

Making Government Work II
Virginia business executives must define leadership in a “purple haze” state.
by Doug Koelemay

Moldy Bread, Lame Circuses
November’s elections decided only this: that the two-party duopoly would remain in power, that fundamental change would not occur, and the nation would continue its slide down an unsustainable path.
by EM Risse

Four for NoVa
Republicans have lost Northern Virginia for three statewide elections running. Here are four ideas that could tilt the vote-rich region back to the GOP.
by Chris Braunlich

Freedom of Association
A lawsuit challenging the open primary system that protects Virginia RINOS is working its way through the federal courts.
by Phil Rodokanakis

Election Speed Bump
The 2006 elections were bad news for Republicans but not necessarily for Conservatives.
by James Atticus Bowden

Vote For Me — We’re Better Off than Mississippi!
That attitude won’t cut it anymore. If Republicans want conservative votes, they’d better live up to conservative ideals.
by John Taylor

Share this article

ADVERTISEMENT

(comments below)

ADVERTISEMENT

(comments below)

Comments

4 responses to “Spreading Hope to All Mankind: Bacon’s Rebellion Publishes Again”

  1. Gold_h2o Avatar
    Gold_h2o

    Phil:

    I love the idea of having closed primaries. I’d only add that if you are going to have a “closed” primary then you (The Party) should pay for the cost of the election.

    I don’t see how you could have taxpayers foot the bill for the cost of an election and then not allow some of them to participate in the election…….particularly registered Independents (if registration by party is what this case will ultimately require us to do.)

    As long as the party foots the bill for the election I don’t see a problem.

    As a side note, perhaps requiring political parties to pay for primary elections would have an interesting effect……it would produce more convention-style elections because they wouldn’t want to spend the money.

  2. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    I had no idea!

    Why do taxpayers pay for primaries?

    and yes… if taxpayers are going to pay for primaries then ALL taxpayers should be able to vote in each and every one.

    No wonder, independents have a hard time winning…

    why can’t independents band together and request a primary for independents?

  3. E M Risse Avatar
    E M Risse

    Dr. Joel Hirschhorn (who did a guest column for Bacon’s Rebellion some time ago) has written a new book “Delusional Democaracy.” One of the eight reforms he lists is open primaries.

    Open primaries is one of the few things that Virginia does right in the political field.

    It is interesting to note that those who have a stake in Businss As Usual are outlining ways to narrow choice at public expense.

    EMR

  4. Toomanytaxes Avatar
    Toomanytaxes

    There are good arguments on both sides of the primary issue. I did vote once in the Democrat’s senate primary race between Virgil Goode and Chuck Robb, mainly because Robb was so bad on many issues. He always talked about fiscal restraint, but voted the opposite way. Let’s hope our new senator-elect, Jim Webb, walks his talk about being a fiscal conservative.

Leave a Reply

Read More