Gettin' Greedy

"Greed is good" said Gordon Gekko in the movie Wall Street. He was referring to the common human tendency to want more, which in certain economic circumstances can result in efficiencies.

Conservative Republicans in Idaho also want more. Their effort to close the primaries is admittedly an effort to purge moderates and RINOs from the party. They want more conservatives, and they especially want the Republican party to be more conservative.

The Idaho Republican party is very successful right now. The have all statewide offices, and veto-proof majorities in both houses of the legislature. And yet, they want more, so they're trying to change the formula that has been so successful.

The folks supporting the closed primaries, the folks who want more conservatives and fewer moderates, must believe that the Idaho electorate is more conservative than currently reflected in the legislature. They must believe that Idaho, already among the reddest of the red, is further to the right than it looks. If they can just stop mischief making by Democrats, the legislature will better reflect Idaho, i.e., even more conservative.

It seems to me that the closed-primary folks are probably misreading the Idaho electorate. If you hang around very conservative types only like-minded people all the time, it's easy to assume that everyone is like you. But, the fallacy there is that you draw your conclusion from an insufficient sample set. Idahoans seem happy with the Republican party as it currently is. That's why it's so successful.

The arch conservatives pushing closed primaries are getting greedy. Maybe they should take a lesson from what happened to Gordon Gekko.

Update: Made a change to clarify my point hanging around like-minded folks. Saying conservatives was misleading.