If you call yourself a liberal/democrat...

[Buddyblazon]

but want an exclusive club that doesn't allow certain people to take part in our big tent...


you are NOT a liberal.

Just FYI.

[CrowCityDem]

1. Um

the big tent is only a tent if you get inside it. Otherwise, it's a lawn decoration.

[Buddyblazon]

2. People are trying to get in the tent...

and you're telling them to piss off.

That's not what liberals espouse.

[CrowCityDem]

4. No they aren't

If they were trying to get in, they're be joining the party.

[Buddyblazon]

10. "If they wanted in...

they'd apply to our exclusive club."

Yeah....not a liberal.

[CrowCityDem]

14. It's not exclusive. Anyone who wants to join is welcome.

[Buddyblazon]

17. As long as you do it by this date.

*Snickers*

[CrowCityDem]

23. Yes. You have deadlines to vote in the general election too.

[Buddyblazon]

25. Again...

you are not a liberal if you turn people away from the tent. You may be a registered democrat. You are certainly no liberal.

[CrowCityDem]

26. Neither are you, if you judge everyone who disagrees with you.

[Buddyblazon]

27. Where in being a liberal has it ever been stated...

that I can't disagree with people? Lol

Nice try though.

[CrowCityDem]

29. Your big liberal tent apparently doesn't welcome me.

[Buddyblazon]

46. My tent is open to anyone that's interested in advancing...

Liberal policies. That would include you.

[CrowCityDem]

52. But only your idea of 'liberal'.

[Buddyblazon]

59. No...

Nowhere did I exclude any liberal/progressive/democrat/left leaning citizen.

You can keep trying. As I said before...I welcome you in our tent.

[CrowCityDem]

60. You called me defense of closed primaries...

'definitely not liberal'. That was entirely judgmental, and excluded me for not agreeing with what you consider liberalism.

[Buddyblazon]

62. I pointed out...

you may be a democrat. But you ain't no liberal. Which is fine...because you're welcome in our tent.

[pinebox]

18. Some don't want to join but will support the Dem candidate

That is more important than your political version of Sam's Club

[Buddyblazon]

24. Considering there are more independents than...

self proclaimed D's and Rs...and independents either lean one way or the other and elections are decided by independents...

I'd think we would fall over backwards to get their support.

Otherwise you're no better than the religious people that turn their God into an exclusive club.

But here we are...and we have registered democrats telling them to go away.

Worst...campaigners...ever.

[NWCorona]

3. But it's hard to get in if the doors are zipped up 6 months before the big event.

[CalvinballPro]

32. Maybe you should have been paying attention 6 months ago instead of just recently?

I mean, the rest of us were. We should be punished for playing by the rules, and you should be rewarded for not doing so? That seems illogical.

[NWCorona]

36. Tell me where I suggested not playing by the rules

I'm just criticizing this ridiculous deadline.

[CalvinballPro]

37. You want to get "in the doors" despite missing the deadline. The deadline is the rule.

You want to ignore the rule because it's inconvenient for you.

[NWCorona]

38. Lol!

I'm pointing out that the party won't grow because of the deadline.

There isn't a point of getting into the tent this cycle as it's to late.

I do support that bill that that would change the rules for the next election tho.

[CalvinballPro]

41. New people register every year. The deadline has nothing to do with it.

The deadline applies to an election that happens once every 4 years. It's ridiculous to argue that a single once-every-4-year deadline is preventing the party from growing.

You're grasping at straws here, and it's embarrassing to witness.

[NWCorona]

43. How am I grasping at straws when most people don't even pay attention to the race until the new year

It's designed to lock out candidates like Bernie.

[morningfog]

57. Enjoy your (return to) vacation.

We'll see you again soon in one form or another.

[floriduck]

20. Or a dumpster fire.

[LonePirate]

5. Should Republicans be allowed in the tent? Why even have a tent?

[pampango]

6. I call myself a liberal Democrat. I have an issue with allowing conservatives into 'our big tent'.

Other than that I don't want our party to be 'an exclusive club that does not allow certain people to take part".

[Andy823]

31. Exactly

Republicans are NOT voting for someone they WANT to win the nomination, they are voting for someone they think will be weak in November and help the republicans win. Those are not the kind of people we should let in out tent.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. Either all the primaries are open or they are all closed.

There is no way a hybrid can ever be fair or make sense.


Just have open primaries for every state and territory with candidates from both parties competing in them. That means voters could have chosen between Clinton, Sanders, O'Malley, Trump, Cruz, Bush, Rubio, Kasich. Paul, Christie, et cetera...

Eliminate party debates... All the candidates would debate one another, regardless of party.

At the end the two leading candidates would have a run off...


Of course this is ridiculous, as ridiculous as letting folks vote in the primaries, regardless of what party they registered as.

Parties exist for a reason and that reason is to allow folks to separate themselves into groups and form consensuses and do political battle with other folks who have done the same.

[CalvinballPro]

33. California tried that, and SCOTUS struck it down. CA Democratic Party v Jones.

I am getting extremely tired of having to type the details of that court case.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

39. I think it's a terrible idea. That's why I ridiculed it but has the virtue of being consistent.

[CorkySt.Clair]

8. More purity tests.

[whatchamacallit]

9. I call myself a liberal soon-to-be-ex-democrat

This party no longer supports liberals.

[Buddyblazon]

12. This is 100% truth...

After 25 years as a registered democrat...I am considering the same.

But then I'm not allowed to support true liberals via the Democratic Party.

[DanTex]

11. What about the hated "Third Wayers", are they allowed inside too?

[Buddyblazon]

13. Of course...

Big Tent is Big Tent.

Perhaps the difference between you and I...as a true liberal I welcome anyone that wants to take part in our tent.

You on the other hand, from the posts of yours I've read, don't even want liberals in your 10'x10' pop up.

[DanTex]

16. I am a liberal, so of course I want liberals in the party. And there are lots of them.

[Buddyblazon]

21. You certainly don't want me in your party...

and your posts here on DU make that perfectly clear. I don't want to step in line...so you make me as unwelcome as possible.

No...you are not a liberal. You are a corporate democrat.

But I'll tell you what...you are welcome in our tent.

[Dem2]

15. .

[geek tragedy]

19. "you are welcome inside our tent"

"NO! I don't want to be inside your tent!"

"Okay, you don't have to come in."

"Stop excluding me!"

Huh?

[Buddyblazon]

22. Spin spin spin

.

[CalvinballPro]

34. Truth, truth, truth.

Hurts, don't it?

[Buddyblazon]

47. You seem angry, bro.

Take an Internet timeout and go enjoy the Spring.

[salinsky]

28. You want access to everything in the tent ...

... but, you don't want to get in the tent.

Is that it?

[islandmkl]

30. the old tent held too many people...so about 30 years ago they got a new tent...

and moved it up on the hill, the big hill where the other guys had their really nice tent, and they liked the gate at the bottom and the nice paved driveway up to the tent, and the streetlights, and the security at the gate, too...

they didn't want to keep anyone out, they just wanted to make sure not just ANYONE got in...because, you know...the last tent had too many people in it who all wanted different things (kind of) and the other guys started get all the good stuff over in their tent...

and the people in charge, in their nice new tent, wanted some of that good stuff for themselves, too...

[whatchamacallit]

35. Bravo!

[Scuba]

40. So fascists are welcome? Neo-cons? KKK members?

I really don't think our tent should be that big.

[Sky Masterson]

42. They want to win

They don't care how or by what means.
They also for some reason want to Reward Hillary Clinton for lying and selling the Iraq Invasion.
Let the past be the past.
I mean, if someones actions aids in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, it was a long time ago and she wanted to show strength. Give her a break,Sky...
Yeah, she showed strength but NOT courage.
Lets reward her and to hell with all the war dead.

[DrDan]

44. so you want to make the membership rules for a club you do not want to join . . . got it

[Buddyblazon]

48. Dan...

I've been a registered democrat for 25 years. From the very day I turned 18. I've been a part of the tent for a long time.

While you are hastily trying to push me out of the tent, I welcome you to our tent. Hi, Dan. Good to see you in our tent. Let's tent it up, mofo.

[Buddyblazon]

49. Wait...I voted for Carter in our elementary school election...

So really been part of the tent for 35 years. Lol

[DrDan]

51. I am not pushing anyone out of any tent - everyone is welcome

[pampango]

45. I support my candidate for what he stands for not because he is good in winning caucuses and open

primaries and does not do as well in closed ones.

6 months ago I expected Bernie would be strongest in closed primaries since Democrats tend to be more liberal than independents or republicans and Bernie is more liberal than Hillary. And that Hillary would do better in open primaries - in which she has better name recognition and independents might be scared by the 'socialist' candidate - and in caucuses because she would have a larger more experienced ground team.

That would have made my world simpler since my preferred candidate would have been performing better in my preferred primary format. I would undoubtedly now be saying "How can we let republicans and independents choose our candidate, when registered Democrats prefer my candidate."

Obviously I was completely wrong about the campaign strengths and weaknesses of the two candidates. (Probably why no campaigns have approached me to help with their strategizing. )

Though my 'simpler world' has not happened, I still think closed primaries are fairer - with reasonable deadlines for declaring or switching ones party affiliation - and will not abandon them just because my candidate is not doing as well in them. republicans should not be expected to allow me or most DU'ers to decide who their candidates are, though some of my Democratic friends here in Ohio did exactly that in our open primary. Neither should Democrats invite republicans to choose who our candidates are.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

50. I'm an Independent/Socialist. I find it quite liberating to not belong to a party.

[Zynx]

53. I'm all for open primaries, but I want to abolish caucuses.

[Bill USA]

54. 30% of Sanders fans won't support HRC in GE, 15% of HRC supporters say they wouldn't support Bernie

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/nbc-poll-trump-clinton-hold-sizable-leads-new-york-n554311

Strikingly, 30 percent of likely Democratic voters who support Sanders say they wouldn't support Clinton in a general election, compared with 15 percent of Clinton voters who say that about Sanders.

This could be seen as Sanders supporters being more doctrinaire than Clinton supporters. Of course, it's also possible that Sanders supporters are more dogmatic because they have less experience with politics or life in general, so they see things in more simplistic - Black and White terms, All or nothing with no shading - perhaps facilitated in that view by swallowing GOP propaganda and demonization of Clinton.

OR you could put it another way: "If I don't get my way, I ain't playing this game anymore! and I'll just go home!"

[COLGATE4]

55. Hit the nail on the head. Thread win!!!! nt

[Buddyblazon]

61. Terribly simplistic...

but whatever makes you feel smart.

[hellofromreddit]

63. Or Hillary needs to campaign better

You know, drop the whole entitlement attitude kids have these days and actually earn votes the old fashioned way.

It's not too much to ask--Bernie already earned 'em.

[brooklynite]

56. I think of it as a Club that accepts anyone who WANTS TO BE A MEMBER...

[Lucinda]

58. Everyone is "allowed" they just have to follow the proceedures to join.

It isn't rocket science. Nothing is hiddden.