Gaslighting and lawlessness have combined in North Dakota to provide a classic study of the political disaster that is Critical Primary Theory.
Critical Primary Theory allows the “will of the people” expressed in primaries to “trump” the First Amendment rights of individual members of the Republican Party in North Dakota.
Until the single-day 2022 NDGOP convention concluded on April 2, North Dakota Republicans had the opportunity to nominate their own candidates for public office.
It was within the authority of the delegates assembled to adopt special rules of order and Robert’s Rules of Order to govern the convention and to authorize the NDGOP State Committee to govern the party until the next convention.
The state Republican Party Convention is the highest authority of the Republican Party in every state.
In the closely divided convention, opponents of Critical Primary Theory nominated Gary Emineth, a former state party chair, to be the permanent chair of the convention.
Supporters of Critical Primary Theory nominated current party chair Perrie Schafer to be the permanent chair of the convention.
Critical Primary Theory prevailed by a vote of 1274 to 999.
After the vote, convention chair Schafer failed to appoint convention committees as required under Robert’s Rules, and, in lieu of a convention rules committee, only allowed the five member interim party rules committee to submit two rules to limit debate and manage “endorsements”.
Had Emineth prevailed, opponents of Critical Primary Theory had organized a committee which had drafted rules for consideration by the convention delegates which would have provided complete rules to govern the convention itself, as well as rules to create the NDGOP to govern the party until the next convention.
Advocates of Critical Primary Theory do not like the way political parties operate. They hate the concept of self determination in nominations, favoring instead, open primaries, the invention of the Progressive Party.
One of the rules which opponents of Critical Primary Theory had drafted would have given the convention delegates the opportunity to nominate Republican candidates instead of simply recommend them with “endorsements”.
In North Dakota, primaries are open to all citizens of any or no party and are unconstitutionally required, by state law, to determine the nominee of the private parties in the general election.
Only “unconstitutional” laws can infringe on the constitutional rights of individuals. It takes a court, however, to apply the word “unconstitutional” to a law.
Failure to sue on the facts now available would be a monumental lost opportunity.
Gaslighting by the media is a major reason this lawlessness is allowed to continue nationwide.
The Associated Press is the preeminent gaslighter in the United States.
JAMES MACPHERSON carries the water for the AP in North Dakota.
Much of the AP strategy to promote Critical Primary Theory is intentional “omission” when writing about nominations. The AP writes endlessly about “primaries” as the path to a nomination with virtually NO reference to the rightful role of individual Republicans delegates at conventions in the process. (See my Substack post March 30, 2021)
MACPHERSON had no shortage of facts at his disposal to include support for the convention process in his writing. Instead, he omitted any suggestion that the First Amendment rights of every individual delegate at the NDGOP Convention were compromised.
Then, in a follow-up article about the convention, he fabricated an article with this headline: CHANGE IN GOP CONVENTION PROCESS POSSIBLE AFTER INFIGHTING.
His lead paragraph included this gem: The vitriol between rank-and-file Republicans and the far-right faction of the GOP could spur changes to future gatherings, including delaying the conventions and candidate endorsements until after the June primary elections.
He followed with this journalistic malfeasance: Several states already do just that and post-primary conventions have been pushed by GOP Gov. Doug Burgum, party activists say.
Which states?
Which party activists?
Unsourced, fabricated, garbage, journalism.
Is this the official goal of the Associated Press?
Critical Primary Theory is obviously intended to replace political parties.
For now, it has nullified members of the Republican Party in North Dakota.
Has the referred to unconstitutional law ever been challenged in court? If so, what we’re the results? If not, why not?
So maybe we should be looking at a lawsuit to apply "unconstitutional" to primaries being required by ND State Law.