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Election of National Delegates and the Nomination of President by Direct Vote
- University of Wisconsin Press
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be replaced by another who will prove equally unworthy. The citizen is entitled to some check, some appeal, some relief, some method of halting and correcting the evils of misrepresentation and betrayal. The initiative, referendum, and recall will insure real representative government and will prove so e¤ective as a check that it will rarely be found necessary to invoke the powers conferred against unworthy representatives in any enlightened and progressive commonwealth. When Wnally invested through constitutional amendment with this supreme power, the electorate can always enact such laws as the ever-changing industrial and political conditions require for the common good. Election of National Delegates and the Nomination of President by Direct Vote Robert M. La Follette january 7, 1911 To Wisconsin belongs the honor of enacting the Wrst primary law for the election of delegates to a national convention by direct vote of the people. The Wisconsin delegates to the Republican National Convention of 1908 were elected under the law. They stood in that convention, a little band of fearless men Wghting to the last ditch for platform pledges vital to the public interest. Their contest in the Chicago convention Wxed the attention of the country and forced the candidate nominated for the President to broaden the platform by declarations in his speech of acceptance in favor of several of the important Wisconsin propositions which the convention had impatiently rejected. The lesson is obvious. Every state in the Union should adopt a primary law for providing for the election of delegates to the National Conventions of 1912 by direct vote of the people. With such a law in each state, the delegates will be chosen by the voters instead of by the machine managers, and the national platforms of both political parties will represent the interests of the people rather than the interests of the system. Wall Street has already selected the Presidential candidates of both political parties. There is just time to defeat the Wall Street plan. The Great Issue Robert M. La Follette february 17, 1912 The great issue before the American people today is the control of their own government . In the midst of political struggle, it is not easy to see the historical relation of 320 part 16 democratizing democracy ...