California has passed law making it a requirement for primary candidates for governor or president of the USA must show their tax returns to the public to get on the state’s ballot. If you’re aware of the law it is highly likely you fit into one of three camps
- You think this is the end of democracy as we know it and it should be thrown out
- You think this is a great idea and will force president Trump to finally publish his returns
- You think this is a worthless exercise and we have better things to do
Ok I might have missed some nuance here 🙂
But as madman i find the arguments and furor pretty fun. To be clear i’m very ambivalent at best about the law itself. I think it is incredibly unreasonable for the public not to see how candidates make money as a very basic way to make corruption transparent. But at the same time my hackles go up when ballot controls are used as a tool…
The basic argument against the law is that it is unconstitutional because states cannot put addition requirements for candidates beyond what the constitution specifies. It also states the law itself was politically motivated attack on Trump.
The latter, in my opinion is true. If you don’t think this is an attack or rebuke of president Trump’s lack of providing tax returns well, share what you’re smoking… But just because it is a rebuke / attack is really meaningless in determining if it is good and valid law. Plenty of good laws have been created because someone did something that needed rebuking or attacking. In fact it is likely the start of most good, and bad laws…
The first part of the argument is a hoot. The courts have held in the past that states can’t restrict access based on things outside the candidate’s control. But things in their control such as obtaining signatures, filling fees, party registration and being selected by a party have all been allowed…
So the argument is really saying states can only use the constitution as a guide even for things clearly in the control of the candidates…
If that’s true then all states should have ballots for both primaries and general election that include anyone who requests that can show they are a natural born US citizen that is 35 years or older and has resided at least 14 years in the US. This might make for a pretty unwieldy ballot, but i like it! Of course it would remove parties from the ballot equation…
A Madman has spoken…. 🙂