By / June 1, 2025
So now there’s a lawsuit—because of course there is. A group of unaffiliated voters in Maryland, led by former Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford, is challenging the state’s closed primary system. Their claim? That it’s unfair for nearly one million unaffiliated voters to be excluded from taxpayer-funded primaries. Because obviously, the solution to political dysfunction is to let people who don’t join the party pick the party’s candidates. Brilliant.
Let’s be clear: this isn’t about civil rights. This is about political sabotage with a smiley face sticker on it. Closed primaries exist so members of a political party—you know, the ones who show up, volunteer, knock on doors, debate the issues, and actually vote in general elections—can choose who represents them. That’s called democracy. Not “everyone votes for everyone else’s candidates.”
And we’ve seen this play out before. Go back to 2006. Suddenly, a bunch of “independents” (read: Democrats in disguise) started showing up to Republican primaries. Who did they vote for? John McCain. Why? Because they knew he was the weakest candidate to face Barack Obama in 2008. Stronger conservatives like Fred Thompson? Pushed aside by a flood of moderates who had no intention of voting Republican in the general election. It’s like letting Patriots fans vote on who starts for the Ravens. The only reason they’re there is to watch us lose.
Let’s not kid ourselves—many independents are just Democrats who don’t want to commit. They want the freedom to feel morally superior while never having to explain their policy inconsistencies. They register “unaffiliated” like it’s a personality trait, then expect to be treated like political messiahs because they “vote the person, not the party.” That’s fine—do your thing. But don’t demand access to a party you’ve made a career of not joining.
If the Democrats want to let unaffiliated voters play in their sandbox, go for it. Make it a free-for-all. Let everyone vote, including their Uber driver and the guy selling crystals at the farmer’s market. But Republicans? We should keep our primary process closed. Full stop. You want to vote in the GOP primary? Register Republican. Earn your badge. Sit through the county party meetings, get 300 emails a week, and deal with that one guy who still thinks the gold standard is the answer to inflation. That’s the price of admission.
Here’s the reality: allowing independents into Republican primaries just opens the door for bad-faith voters to sway the outcome in favor of the weakest, least-electable candidate. And when the general election comes? They’ll vote for the Democrat anyway. It’s a Trojan horse dressed in cargo shorts and sipping a craft kombucha.
This lawsuit is a solution in search of a problem. Want more people involved in the process? Encourage them to pick a side. Political parties are not taxpayer piñatas that everyone gets to whack on demand. They are private organizations with a public purpose, and membership still matters.
So let’s stop pretending that this is about fairness or inclusion. It’s about influence. And if we let outsiders determine our candidates, we’ll lose the very thing that defines us: our principles. And probably the next few elections, too.
In short: Democrats can run their primaries however they want. If they want a circus, they can invite the whole town. But keep unaffiliated voters out of our primaries. Because this is one movie we’ve already seen—and we’re not interested in the sequel.
Originally post on mocogopclub.com
see more stories by Ian Schwartz
