Verbosities

One way in which the Tennessee Democratic Party has managed to retain majority status* in the General Assembly for eons surely has to be through control of some 95 county election commissions. Tennessee law provides that the majority party holds three of five seats on the State Election Commission; in turn, this body officially chooses the members of each county election commission, but in reality that is done with much input from that county's legislative delegation. Therefore, the Legislature directly and indirectly chooses every election commissioner in the state, and the majority party stacks each one in favor of itself.

The fact that our state's code is thoroughly woven with references to two specific political parties is evidence that the parties themselves act like a single, two-pronged special interest group, one that is more powerful than any labor union or trade association could hope to be. And furthermore, when one party is able to establish dominance for a period quite a bit longer than a lifespan, the probability factor for un-democratic malfeasance nears 1 (as in 100%).

(*Yes, the GOP briefly held a majority in the state Senate, and Ron Ramsey is Speaker and Lieutenant Governor; however, Sen. Micheal Williams' departure from the GOP puts the upper house at 16-16-1, which, in light of history, is hardly a firm hold; and Sen. Rosalind Kurita, a Democrat, holds the Speaker Pro Tem spot. In essence, the Democrats continue to control the General Assembly.)