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April 05, 2008

Answering the complaints with FACTS

I keep hearing certain complaints resurfacing over and over.
Complaints about how the process works.
Complaints which are, in my opinion, based on fallacy not fact.

Complaint:
The Democratic Party and Democratic National Committee is a corrupt "good old boy's club"/"gentlemen's club" that does not trust the will of Democratic Primary voters.

Fact:
While anyone who is registered to vote as a Democrat is a member of the Party, there are 440 members of the Democratic National Committee.
The National Committee has 9 elected officers: The Chair, five Vice Chairs, Treasurer, Secretary, and National Finance Chair. (currently 5 women and 4 men)
Membership on the National Committee is composed of individuals elected by the Democratic Party organizations in each state (including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico), the U.S. Territories (American Samoa, Guam, and the Virgin Islands), and Democrats living outside the United States and those Territories
listed above (Democrats Abroad).

Each jurisdiction is represented by its Chair and the next highest ranking officer of the opposite sex. An additional 200 votes are distributed to the states and territories based on population, with each receiving a minimum of two additional seats. Each delegation must be equally divided between men and women.

Also seated on the DNC are representatives of various Democratic constituencies and elected officials. These include two U.S. Senators and U.S. Representatives, two members of the College Democrats, and three representatives each from the Democratic Governors, Mayors, State Legislators, County Officials. Municipal
Officials, Young Democrats, and the National Federation of Democratic Women.
Fifty members are appointed by the DNC Chairmen, and approved by the DNC, and are considered "Members-at-Large" (25 men, 25 women).

At the State Party level the ruling body is the State Central Committee made up of delegates elected from each county in the state weighted by the number of registered Democrats in that county (with a minimum of 2 delegates per county).
These delegations are also required to be equally divided between men and women (except where there is an uneven number of delegates).

At the County Party level the ruling body is the County Central Committee made up of the Precinct Committeemen and Precinct Committeewomen elected in the Primary by the registered Democrats in each Precinct. There are an equal number of Precinct Committee Person slots for men and women in each precinct. Only men can be elected or appointed to a Committeeman slot. Only women can be elected or appointed to a Committeewoman slot.

By rule, the ruling bodies of the Democratic Party at County, State, and National levels are equally divided between men and women.

Complaint:
Can't tell you how many times there have been uncontested committeeman elections at the precinct level because more often than not the person is preselected and just goes through the election process to make it official. As an independent I just scroll right by them.

Fact:
As an "independent" choosing the DEMOCRATIC PARTY NOMINEE is not your concern. Choosing a nominee is an internal PARTY decision. For the record, we elect both Committeemen AND Committeewomen.

Complaint:
The "SuperDelegates" are NOT all elected politicians, many of them are "party insiders" who do not have a current constituency which they represent as a result of winning the most recent popular vote of the citizenry at large.

Fact:
There are three types of "SuperDelegates":
1- Elected officials; current Democratic members of Congress (House and Senate), Democratic Governors
2- Former Democratic elected officials; President, Vice-President, leaders of the Senate, Speakers of the House and Minority Leaders and former Chairs of the DNC
3- Current Members of the DNC
All "SuperDelegates" (except the 50 DNC appointees) were elected and serve a constituency. Those in category 1 were elected by the citizenry at large in the most recent election for their seat. Those in category 2 were elected in the past by the citizenry at large. Those in category 3 were elected by their State Central Committees, who were elected by their County Central Committees, who were elected by registered Democrats in the previous Primary Election.
Since the purpose of the Democratic National Convention is to choose the DEMOCRATIC PARTY Nominee for President it is ONLY the legitimate concern of registered members of the Democratic Party.
Some State Democratic Parties may choose to extend the courtesy of allowing non-Democrats to vote in the Democratic Primary. They are not required to do so. Choosing a nominee is Party business.
ALL registered Democrats are "party insiders". All others are "party outsiders" and selecting the nominee is not their concern.

Complaint:
Most troubling is that party insiders, members of Congress, union leaders, party officials and an assortment of activists known as super delegates, now hold the key to the nomination for Obama or Clinton. Each of the super delegate's votes is now equivalent to about 10,000 Democratic voters. ..."

Fact:
Selecting a Democratic Nominee is the business of "party insiders" (all registered Democrats). The "SuperDelegates" were elected by Democratic "party insiders" or their duly elected representatives. Although some "SuperDelegates" may coincidently be "union leaders", there are no "SuperDelegate" positions allocated to "union leaders". The reason why the "key" to the nomination rests with the "SuperDelegates" is because Democratic Primary Voters have failed to show a clear preference and have instead split more or less evenly between the two leading candidates.
SOMEBODY has to make the decision. Since the general public has failed to do so, the "SuperDelegates" will have to.

Complaint:
The SuperDs, as I understand it, are susceptible to pressure by Party leadership. ALSO, and this is the part that I have a problem with, they are NOT reflective of the vote of the People (like elected delegates).

Fact:
"SuperDelegates" ARE the Democratic Party leadership. They were elected to their current positions by the votes of registered Democrats or the duly elected representatives of Democratic voters. ALL delegates are elected at some point (by "party insiders").
Most delegates are "pledged" to a particular candidate.
"SuperDelegates" are not "pledged", they are free to exercise their own independent judgement.

Complaint:
Each elected (pledged) delegate represents the will of hundreds of thousands of voters. SuperDs represent ONE voter each (themselves), yet have EQUAL WEIGHT as an elected delegate!

Fact:
ALL Delegates are elected, not all delegates are "pledged".
Each pledged delegate does NOT represent "hundreds of thousands", not even a single hundred thousand. The New Hampshire Primary awarded 22 pledged delegates. I seriously doubt 2.2 MILLION Democrats voted in that Primary. Or that 4.5 MILLION Democrats voted in the South Carolina Primary. It is highly unlikely that 5.2 MILLION Democrats will vote in the Oregon Primary since the TOTAL population is considerably less than that number.
Each "SuperDelegate" represents considerably more than "one voter".
By RULE, the pledged delegates are NOT required to vote for the candidate they are pledged to, so they could BETRAY the voters they supposedly represent if they chose to do so. Every one of the 4048 Democratic National Convention Delegates really only represent themselves if they choose to.

Complaint:
It is an UNdemocratic process -- an ELITIST process -- crammed in the middle of a democratic process, the primary elections. It was put in place EXACTLY BECAUSE the powers that be in the Party wanted a mechanism to UNDERMINE the will of the People when they saw fit.

Fact:
WHO exactly are "the powers that be"? And how are you able to read their minds?

Complaint:
Since the democratic party does not fully trust the will of the democratic primary voters they should not whine and moan nor be surprised when liberal/progressive voters vote 3rd party; why stick with a party in the general election that did not trust what we the people had to say in the primary election.

Fact:
Why should the Party listen to the will of disloyal voters who will bail out if they don't get the nominee they want? If "liberal/progressive" voters vote 3rd Party, they will be cutting off their noses to spite their face and making it easier for John McCain to win a "Third Bush Term".

Complaint:
Well, let's just abolish the process altogether and have those with the most political experience choose how things are done.

Fact:
That IS how it was done prior to 1900. If you would like to return to that method be advised that women did not have the right to vote back then. And although African-Americans had the legal right to vote, they were denied that right in much of the country (untill the Voting Rights Act in the '60s).

Posted by Mac at April 5, 2008 01:56 PM