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from the prior comments: Les Marsden says:
Thanks for keeping up the fight, and for helping to keep the Democratic Party from descending FURTHER down that Clintonian neoliberal, corporatist money pit. And believe me: it's deeply painful that the word "liberal" ever came to be part of a description for the Democratic Party's very own version of trickle-down Reaganist economics.
Absolutely, the super delegate system destroys the very core of democracy. I can't speak for those "Founding Fathers," but I can voice what I think would be their outrage. One only has to look at the origin of the super delegate system: the top DEM brass wanted to make sure there would never again be another outside of the party type renegade like Jimmy Carter. Originally, "because they are free to support anyone they want, superdelegates could potentially swing the results to nominate a presidential candidate who did not receive the majority of votes during the primaries."
But that won't apply in 2016, not this time around because Hillary bought them all and signed them up long ago. Disgusting! Even the Comptroller of NY and the Attorney General, in charge of "investigating" the Primary Hijack and Heist a few weeks ago, are or were HRD delegates or super delegates, or part of her Leadership team of New York, and so tell me: precisely why does any one think they could be "impartial"?
The difference now from the Jimmy Carter era is that people are now much more informed of how their election was stolen.
Go on youtube and watch "Uncounted Votes: The New Math of American Elections"! It is very clear that if Bernie is ripped off by this super delegate system, there will be mayhem on the streets reminiscent of Watts in 1965 and Detroit in 1967, except one thing will be different: THE RAGE WILL COME FROM ALL SECTORS AND ALL ETHNIC GROUPS! It won't be pretty. Final point: those who try talking to the super delegates find it usually backfires; they get angry and pretend to have felt "threatened," and make a big stink in the press about that. This happened recently when one from CA, can't remember his name, shot off a highly publicized letter to Bernie telling him his supporters were doing bad things"but just wait: the anger will be much worse this summer.
Silvia Brandon-Perez: This is a terrible and very undemocratic idea; it's another way to interfere with the one person-one vote definition of a democracy. Another thing I would love to see go away is the Electoral College" We need to get rid of Citizens United and of the power of the very rich to buy elections. And if not, then we need to get rid of the two-party system, which represents two sides of the same coin, and a very rotten coin at that.
Liz wrote: The problem with superdelegates is that they solve one problem while creating another. The intent is to avoid special interest groups taking over a mainstream party and no-one would deny that the Tea Party and Trump followers on the Republican side need some moderating. On the other hand they can entrench a leadership whose time has passed. The progressive elements of the Democratic Party are pushing against pro-Wall Street and pro-bellicose leaders who no longer reflect the interests of the majority of those who, if not capital-D Democrats, will consistently vote against the Republican candidates. The US political structure from quadrennial National Conventions to the delegate system and the Electoral College were designed in the time of horse and buggies and are no longer needed in the digital age in which we live. We need to encourage our leaders to establish a commission to look at what works and what doesn't, based on best practices in other democratic nations and update the American political process into the 21st century.
The electoral college is part of the US Constitution, not a tradition or new rule. It provides a safety net, if used correctly, to ensure safe elections. Electors are elected, not candidates, on Election Day. They are elected to vote for the candidate they say they will vote for when the electoral college votes. There has been no problem with the electoral college, but with state election process. Most people do not understand the electoral college. In government classes it is always selected to change. After learning its importance, it is desired to be continued.
The super delegates are people who are selected and permitted to vote at the convention for the candidates of their choice. For MS Clinton this year they permit her to lose states and still win. Unlike the electoral college, these delegates vote for who they choose even if their state votes overwhelming for the other candidate. Super delegates were not liked by Clinton 8 years ago because she was losing them. This year she defends them since they benefit her.
Watch the news or listen to it on progressive radio channels. I add NPR, CNN, POTUS, and local news to the mix for balance. Make sure you are a knowledgable voter who ignores political ads for voting information.
The quality of our government is due to our knowledgable and understanding of the issues and the candidates. If we do not work to be great voters, we will get the government we support due to our ignorance.
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