Please make it stop

Living overseas probably does insulate us somewhat from the election process in the States, but what we get here is still annoying enough to prompt this post.

My European friends have been asking a very good question: why do American Presidential elections have to take two years, and why does "primary season" take six months? No matter how hard I've tried, I can't really give them a good answer. Fundamentally, I think it boils down to three things: money, power, and hype.

The political establishment has a strong vested interest in dragging this process out, to bring in money and enhance their power. The media loves it because they can spend 2 years arguing about whether or not Senator Clinton took sniper fire in Bosnia and if it's OK that Senator Obama doesn't wear a US flag lapel pin (because, you know, it's not like there are actually any deeper issues than that to deal with). Oh, and that also brings in lots of money. And all of that together draws the power brokers in with a sound reminiscent of Ross Perot's famous line about NAFTA.

Yes, that was hyperbole.

Frankly, I would rather ditch the US election system and adopt a modified British one. Something like this:

• Direct elections, no archaic Electoral College.
• The campaign starts on a specific date. Absolutely no campaigning, fund raising, back-room dealing, etc. can happen before that date. Anyone who does is automatically ineligible.
  
• All states (and equivalents) hold primaries/caucuses on the same single day, one month after the start of the campaign.
  
• Those primaries are open: if you're a registered Democrat and decide you want to vote Republican, or a Republican who wants to vote Green, or a Green member who wants to vote Libertarian, you can vote for whomever you like.
  
• The election is held two months after the primary. The candidate for a given party is the candidate who won the most votes during the primaries. Again, it's a direct election.
• The winner takes office one month after the election.
  
• No government official (elected, appointed, drafted, paid government employee, volunteer, etc.) may be elected to another government post without resigning their current position at least one year in advance of the start of the election campaign. You're a Senator who wants to run for President? Great: resign, wait one year, then start your campaign. Don't want to give up your cushy Senate post at the risk of not being elected President? Too bad - you can't have it both ways, amigo. You can be re-elected to your current job, but no moving up, down, or sideways without resigning for at least one year.
  
• Public funding of campaigns only, with funding distributed equally among all registered parties exceeding a certain percentage return in the preceding election.
  

Yeah, it'll never happen.

So, failing that sort of wholesale change, how about this: let's just choose a Democratic candidate already, OK? Please, make it stop.