On and on, the parties stagger

"Look at the tyranny of party — at what is called party allegiance, party loyalty — a snare invented by designing men for selfish purposes — and which turns voters into chattels, slaves, rabbits, and all the while their masters, and they themselves are shouting rubbish about liberty, independence, freedom of opinion, freedom of speech, honestly unconscious of the fantastic contradiction ... ."

— "The Character of Man," Mark Twain's autobiography

To borrow from Twain, reports of the new Washington top-two primary's death have been greatly exaggerated.

Lawyers for the state Republican and Democratic parties made a media splash with letters they sent to Secretary of State Sam Reed, essentially asking him to call off the state's long-awaited top-two primary. They are asking — no, insisting — Reed hold a partisan primary, a system state voters rejected in approving Initiative 872 in 2004.

Voters sought to free themselves from the selfish purposes of parties — really just special-interest groups — by establishing a primary where the two candidates who receive the most votes advance to the general election, regardless of their party preference.

Mind you, voters pamphlets and ballots for the Aug. 19 election are at the printers.

In March, the U.S. Supreme Court authorized the state to proceed with the primary, which voters embraced handily by initiative in 2004. In a 7-2 ruling, the court overturned a lower-court ruling that the primary would violate the rights of the state's political parties to pick their own standard-bearer.

In their death throes, the party control freaks are claiming that the federal District Court judge's 2004 injunction is still in effect.

The Supreme Court's ruling was definitive about letting the top-two primary proceed, but the Supreme Court paperwork hasn't worked its way through the system.

Last week, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals essentially asked the lawsuit's participants if there were other issues that needed clearing up before it sends the case back to District Court. State lawyers believe the inquiry is in response to their request that the political parties pay back Washington residents some attorney fees the state ponied up after its initial loss.

The top-two primary will go on, but these party shenanigans have gone on long enough. Leaders of the parties ought to call off these absurd efforts.