Readers' forum: Get rid of caucus system

Sherry Brophy, in her letter ("Keep the caucus system," Readers' Forum, May 13), makes the pitch that an elite group can better chose political candidates than ordinary citizens in an open general election. That assumption is not only totally undemocratic but anti-American. It smacks of the totalitarianism of the Third World where freedom to vote is withheld from the general public. What makes us free is the right of every citizen to vote for whom he or she wants. The elite group that the caucus system creates takes away this freedom from us.

Under the caucus/closed primary system I could not vote for either Bob Bennett or Olene Walker because the caucus delegates had already voted against them and kept them from entering the general primary election. That was not right or even American. Both of those candidates would have won handily their respective elections due to their popularity with the general public. But this elite group, with their tunnel vision, did not like them, so they eliminated them despite their popularity. Where is the freedom in that situation?

Yes, we live in a republican representative system, but the representatives of this system have the duty and obligation to vote the preferences of the general public, they represent. This has not happened with the caucus/closed primary system.

Halvor Olsen

West Bountiful