George,

I find the whole idea that one would register one's party affiliation with the state to be deeply troubling. Parties-- like churches-- surely need to be able to keep their entire administrative process quite separate from the intrusive and even potentially oppressive apparatus of the state. I honestly don't know of any other democratic country in which this situation applies. The idea that the state (with the 'help' of Mr. Diebold) actually runs internal party primaries seems outrageous to me. I guess that's because I grew up in a country with a stronger democratic tradition...

Helena Cobban (electronic mail, December 7, 2006)