On August 2, the Kansas City Star ran "Public pays for the private political choices of each party" by Dave Helling.  His main point is that taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for primary elections.  He bases that on his contention that our political parties are "private institutions," not "public entities."  Helling writes: "In almost all states, though, the public pays for private party decisions [i.e., primary elections], a fact that would make the Founders cringe." But the states require the parties to hold primary elections.  And insofar as the primary elections are "private party decisions," that's completely false in states that have "open primaries" like Missouri, where anyone can ask for the ballot of any party (you'd think a political columnist for a Missouri newspaper like the Star would have heard of El Rushbo's Operation Chaos).  Not only that, but the states intrude into...(Read Full Article)