Massachusetts Primary: A Test of Democracy's Machinery

Massachusetts is holding a primary election, and two serious candidates are competing for a Senate seat: Edward Markey, who's been in Congress since 1976, and Seth Moulton, a House representative. On the surface, it's a straightforward political matchup.

But here's what actually matters: Does every voter in Massachusetts have a real chance to cast a ballot? Can they get accurate information about both candidates? Are polling places open in neighborhoods that need them? Are there barriers, intentional or not, keeping people from participating?

This is why the Common Good Party exists. Democracy isn't a spectator sport. It's the machinery that decides everything else: which schools get funded, whose wages go up, whether healthcare is universal. When that machinery breaks, nothing else works.

Right now, that machinery has real problems. Gerrymandering means many elections are decided before voters ever cast a ballot. Voter ID laws and polling place closures make it harder for working people, people with disabilities, and people of color to participate. Campaign money from corporations and billionaires drowns out the voices of ordinary people. These aren't accidents, they're designed features of a system that's tilted.

A Massachusetts primary is a chance to watch democracy in action. But it's also a reminder: we can do better. Every voter should have easy access to the ballot, clear information about the candidates, and confidence that their vote counts. That's not radical. That's what a working democracy looks like.

Read the New York Times coverage.