They couldn’t negotiate a solution where all caucusses were replaced with primaries, in exchange for the elimination of superdelegates?
That wouldn’t favor Sanders enough, if they did that he would lose in a landslide.
Edit: speaking of Sanders, today’s the last day for him to release those tax returns.
Agree: abolish the caucus system since it is open to manipulations. Let people vote in the primaries. It will be good practice for the general: " get out the vote ".
On Bernie’s tax returns/ I think he is doing a “Trump”! Irony indeed!!!
Don’t expect the bought-and-paid for corrupt-to-the-bone DNC, led by Debt Trap Debbie, to willingly cede their ability to rig the game to maintain control for the big-money donors. The only way that will happen is if it becomes clear that Democrats will not win elections until they clean up their act.
People who call themselves Democrats forget what being in a union means. Unions go on strike and make short-term sacrifices in order to build a future. One day, we’ll stop rewarding the DNC for rigging the game, and rewarding candidates who invite frackers, pharma bros, banksters, and all manner of fat-cat ne’er-do-wells under their “big tent.” One day, we’ll recognize that bleeding us dry just a bit more slowly than Republicans will is still bleeding us dry. One day, we’ll recognize that being taken for granted isn’t working for us. One day, we’ll get back in touch with that conscience we suppress in order to vote for the lesser of two evils and just plain not settle for that nonsense any more.
It’s not in my personal best interest to do so – my journey is about over, and maintaining the status quo, even in the pathetic shape it’s in, would be an easy choice. But sacrifices must be made, and in the tradition of the union strike, I’m willing to endure that sacrifice to build a future where jobs pay more than $15 an hour, families can afford medical care and to send their kids to college, and bridges, roads, water, and power grids are at 21st century standards. We need leadership to bring the military budget under control and to reallocate those resources to citizen-centered priorities.
That’s not going to happen with candidates who sell their unwillingness to do anything of substance as “pragmatism.” We don’t need capitulation, we need action. The TPP Twins do not represent that action. The strike begins now, and may it build until the bosses get the message.
Still on vacation till next week, but I occasionally drop by. I often read the Brit Papers in the morning and, for a laugh, the Daily Mail. So What’s with this?
Tres interessent, non?
Edit: Perhaps Putin funds Wikileaks?
Good for you. While you’re on strike, the rest of us will be fighting for the lives and safety of 11 million of our brown brothers and sisters.
The Superdelegates gave balance to the caucuses, which in my mind gives power to to few people. Clinton won the the majority of votes without the Caucuses Sanders would have never got off the ground.
Trump claimed that everything is rigged and look at what the GOP selected.
Unfettered Democracy leads to mob rule. Good God one recent poll has Trump now at 50%
Agreed, Plucky. Union strikes are stupid and self-defeating, and rather than getting workers what they want, they too often are powerless people lighting themselves on fire while the powerful just scratch their heads and go, “?” Unions, BTW, don’t usually suffer for any of it; they still collect their dues when it’s over and then start prodding the poor members, the cash cows, to go self-immolate again so the union can get more in dues later, and so the union can look and feel “tough.” That’s not the organizing model I want to follow - to be a pawn in unions’ eternal cash-grab - so I’ll stick with working within the Democratic party for political change instead.
Guess what, Hillary wins in any scenario, so this is just complaining about losing because it wasn’t really rigged against Hillary.
No one had an issue with the process until it became a campaign rallying cry. It’s no different than free college or a supposed quick change to universal healthcare, just campaign hooey that most people let go of, especially after losing.
Is Sanders helping? Will he ever? Is forcing changes for the worse a good thing?
including how to improve access to caucuses
Here’s an idea: make them primaries instead.
A suggestion for Hillary…
Run on free college and universal healthcare and then as President, appoint Bernie to be in charge of that. His supporters will cheer, and of course, nothing will get done. That’s his way.
Superdelegates are the smallest of the issues with the nominating process, and are only a focus of ire and frustration because they are visible and easy to attack. However, in no election have they been used to deny the winner of the popular vote the nomination, so outside of narrative they are meaningless to the nominating process.
The only reason the Sanders campaign hated them so much is that so few superdelegates would back him, while many backed Clinton. They saw this as unfair, but what it really was is an indication of who was more respected in the Congress both Clinton and Sanders served in. Sanders was in the Congress for 25 years and the people he worked with wouldn’t back him. That says something, and it’s something that should be said.
But there are far more egregious and undemocratic portions of the nominating process.
- The idea that people who refuse to identify as a Democrat get to vote for the Democratic nominee is ridiculous. Why should people who oppose the Democratic Party, its platform and its ideals so much that they can’t even check a box on a government form be allowed to pick the representative of that party? Libertarians, Republicans, Nazis, Communists, Fascists, Greens should have no more say in the Democratic nominee than Democrats should have in theirs.
The solution is to have semi-open primaries where people who are registered Democrats can vote, and those who are not registered with any party can register as a Dem on election day and vote in the primary.
- The length of the nominating process gives outsized influence to certain parts of the country, and minimizes others. Too often NJ and CA have no say in the nominating process – pretty much the case this year – because it is already decided by the time they get to vote. IA and NH and SC have populations that don’t match the country or the party, but sweeping the three is seen as a massive lead and pushes others out.
The solution is to shorten the nominating process to two months and have elections each Tuesday with states representing each section of the country participating in each election. Switch them every cycle so no state is always first and no state is always last.
- Caucuses are massively undemocratic ways to pick a nominee. They’re great for hashing out platforms or issue statements or finding a consensus on policy, but to pick a nominee they discount too many voters. For one, too few people attend to the tune of 15% of the participation in a primary. Even in states where the caucus counts and the primary doesn’t, more people vote in the primary. For two, if 100 people show up on day one and vote for Candidate A, and the delegate doesn’t show up on day one all of those people’s votes are washed out. Hangover, car accident, big date, business trip or whatever and people are disenfranchised. This is what the problem was in Nevada, where at each level the delegates were assigned by which campaign was more organized, not which had more popular support. For three, the votes are not private so people can be bullied, swayed and pushed to change their votes. In short, the whole process is a bad way to pick a nominee.
The solution is, as noted above, government managed semi-open primaries where Democrats and undeclareds willing to register on election day as Democrats get to pick the delegates.
Fine, limit superdelegates. It means nothing if you leave the rest of the broken process in place.
Oh but they would just blame Hillary either way, nothing is ever Bernie’s fault, its always everyone else that fails him.
She already sort of is running on that only it’s her ideas, not the co-opted never going to happen stolen ideas of hers that Bernie went with.
He’s going to be coddled because he won’t quit riling up his people and he’ll call that a win but really, he’ll be cast off and forgotten.
Hilary and now Tim’s agenda is very progressive and should satisfy anyone that was for Bernie for progressive change. The Hillary haters will just have to piss off somewhere and be sad.
The DNC does not control states. If the states refuse to pay for a primary, the state party has no choice but to go caucus. Also, some states have laws about whether primaries are open or closed, again not within the control of the DNC.
100% dead on. Caucuses are far more broken than super delegates. Just look at the mess in Nevada where Clinton won the first day, Sanders won the second day, and both sides tried to game the third day.
Get rid of caucuses and superdelegates while shortening the nominating voting season and I’ll be satisfied.
Did I actually see the word “compromise” in the headline and in the article? What is this, anyway? Party members actually trying to work things out?
We’ve come a long way. Go you Democrats!