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Thursday, January 7, 2016

PARTISAN DIVISIONS: HOW THEY AFFECT THE ELECTORATE


Image result for divisiones partidistas
           Published by El Nuevo Herald on December 06, 2015

"Careful who you step to climb because maybe you find it going down."  This is a popular saying and based on that axiom which says "the world takes many turns." 
And it applies to various fields; less intense in the student area, medium scale in the labor force and stronger in political parties.
Indeed, in political activism we see how the power struggle is of great proportions. Particularly in the United States this issue has reached a considerable height.
A recent Hollywood movie, Our Brand is Crisis, with which we contribute in its premiere in Miami, tells us about the harshness of political campaigns. Based on true events, the film was shot in Bolivia and tells us how a presidential candidate with 10% in the polls, hire a team of American campaign that leads to victory, after a fierce slaughter. The film shows how political campaigns are stark in the United States, where the only goal is to win at any cost.
It turns out that in the daily happenings of political activism, we can see some frankly incomprehensible attitudes: Suddenly, we see someone close to us stops taking our phone calls. For no apparent reason, someone avoids us or denies our greeting at a meeting. Inexplicably, somebody prohibit us to take the microphone at an event where we were supposed to talk.
Indeed, many fear that those who are  coming up, make them shade, surpassing and subtracting their  opportunities or prestige.
Sometimes, this is due to a purely political competition, how is happening now in a tight battle for the Republican presidential nomination.
Other times, it is due to requests from friends. This is "Stopped Him".
And sometimes it is because of old grudges.
Certainly, all of this leads to partisan divisions as they begin to form different groups within the party. It seems to be a skill the fact of creating a group of party supporters. In other words, the more domestic political support you have, the more you brake the competitors, even though they are better than you in many ways.
It happens that there are people who lose elections, not only for themselves, but make them lose their party also. These people are usually divisive and expressly hinder any other candidate from his own party. Simply, they not tolerate another victory in a similar position as it makes them look weak.
But amid his ambition, he hurt his party and the country since in many cases, the best candidate is not the one who finally comes to elections.
And even if he reaches elections, there we can see incredibly sectors within his own party, interested in his defeat.
In the workplace, many fear telling their real experience. It turns out that the interviewer is also fearful of hiring "knife to his throat." Similarly, it often happens that the boss has his own candidate, usually friends or recommended.
Of course, the aggrieved in this case is the hiring company, who stopping using the services of a qualified staff due to external or internal pressures that in nothing help the business.
The same is true in politics, but in this field there are many affected; voters, who are prevented from choosing the best candidate due to the fact there are varied and intertwined factors involved in their nomination, namely: money, individualism, manipulation, ambition and power.
How to choose the best candidates? There are two viable ways: 1) limiting spending on election campaigns; for example, depending on position, they could buy only TV spaces to $ 100,000. 2) Conceiving bipartisan vote in the primaries of both parties; for example, in the Democratic primary, vote both Republicans and Democrats, and vice versa.
With these measures, the beneficiary is the voter, who in this way is closer to a less prefabricated candidate.

BENJAMIN F. DeYURRE
Economist and journalist.
Follow on Twitter:  DeYURRE