Separation of Party and State

Nebraska Republicans Take Issue with Nonpartisan Unicameral

Apparently, the Nebraska Republican Party, under new leadership, has introduced their legislative plan for 2023 (https://www.ne.gop/_files/ugd/2cd554_d7fc4e67fae9413eb5a61262183af7a4.pdf) The plan includes “Make the Unicameral a partisan body so voters know their senator’s party allegiance” and they apparently did not think this through.

Senator Meagan Hunt stated her opposition. I was going to say she is like a broken clock, in being right only twice a day, but this would be an insult to broken clocks which are more accurate than Hunt (https://www.3newsnow.com/news/local-news/nebraska-gop-legislative-plan-includes-making-legislature-a-partisan-body). But on this singular issue, Senator Hunt is right (cough, cough). Sorry, hurt my throat saying that.

In states where every office is partisan, a national partisan issue can override local concerns and defy necessary compromise. For example, Nebraska finally did approve the Keystone XL pipeline (way back in 2011 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_Pipeline), but President Biden killed it largely over partisan politics.

There is also the problem with Presidential primaries where Nebraska votes after the nominee has largely been determined already (https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/2020-state-primary-election-dates.aspx) which causes many conservatives to give up on party politics all-together and go non-partisan. This tends to mute fiscal conservatives on the national stage. I have tried to encourage Republicans to get people to register Republican but there is not much interest yet nonpartisan registration continues to increase (https://www.votedouglascounty.com/)

At the same time, a partisan Unicameral may give rise to the Libertarian Party in numerous counties resulting in more extreme liberals being elected as Libertarians often fail to win office (https://lpne.org/civicrm/profile/?reset=1&force=1&search=0&gid=46&state_province-Primary=1026). They are already running more statewide candidates than Democrats.

The advantage of a nonpartisan Unicameral is Senators pretty much show their true colors and allow specific issues to come to the top. These issues appeal to single-issue voters but often cause headaches for partisans. I often tell people, vote Republican, but fund conservatives. Partisans tend to refer to conservatives as “right-wing nut jobs” and conservatives tend to refer to partisans as “RINOs” without much definition. Yet, in a non-partsan legislature, John McCollister, John Cavanaugh, Megan Hunt, and Machaela Cavanaugh all stand out like a sore thumb. And Machaela went as far to say she would have voted for the tax cuts she spoke against, had she been there (https://nebraskalegislature.gov/bills/view_bill.php?DocumentID=47318, noted at https://nebraskalegislature.gov/FloorDocs/107/PDF/Journal/r2journal.pdf#page=1199). Oh, please!

The nonpartisan Unicameral also tends to give an advantage to fiscal conservatives in both political parties as fiscal conservatives can vote for the best candidate in the primaries regardless of party. This makes Nebraska one of the most fiscally responsible states in the United States (https://www.mercatus.org/publications/urban-economics/state-fiscal-rankings and https://www.cato.org/fiscal-policy-report-card-americas-governors). The only problem with a nonpartisan Unicameral is it is so unique, it requires a unique understanding of politics and requires certain political skills unique to a non-partisan environment. In the absence of party factionalism, issues have to be firmly understood. .

The idea for a partisan Unicameral is somewhat minor and not likely to go anywhere. People like the idea of the separation of party and state. However, if you like the idea of a partisan legislature, you need to ask what is the purpose of a political party? I treat political parties as fraternities (sororities if we got to go into all this gender scrap) of volunteers and associates who share common ideas to foster candidates for political office. Such a party should merely encourage more people to register Republican.