Tulsi Gabbard launches petition to end Democratic Party superdelegate process

[BainsBane]

31. Why not?

With all the outcry to end closed primaries, it is quite likely differences between Democratic and Republican primary voters will erode and the Democratic Party will meet veer to the right. That is the problem when people decide to recreate election law around a particular politician's fortunes rather than long-term concern for the party. It is moderate Democrats who got open primaries established in order to undermine the influence of the left. Now Bernie supporters are working for the same thing all around this country, though predictably not an end to the system than ensures the lowest voter turnout, caucuses. Too many have decided that ideology is determined entirely by affinity to a particular politician, not principle, concern for voting rights or the long-term well being of the party or the country. That result is efforts that would give Republicans as much influence over the party's nomination process as Democrats, which makes it quite possible for a Trump or David Duke like figure to emerge as a future nominee. That is the problem when people decide the only thing that matters is one politician's career, and they work to transform the elections in a way that they think would have change the 2016 results.

The entire fracas in Nevada was out of outrage at hat registered Republicans couldn't run the state party there. So let's not pretend the Democratic party is immune from a Trump-like figure when some have dedicated themselves to ensuring the Dems become more like the GOP. Bernie has made one of his principle concerns to reorder primaries so states he won, predominantly white caucus states, take precedence over more diverse Southern states. Black voters failed to revere b him, so he is working to limit their influence in the party, something his campaign made clear was a goal in Jan of 2016--not, I think, because he has some racial animus but simply. because the majority of AAs didn't vote for him. If we know one thing about Bernie, It is that he nurtures resentment toward people who fail to support him or otherwise disagree with him. http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/bernie-sanders-campaign-last-days-224041 The clear result of the efforts above is to make the party less representative of the diversity of American society, and in doing so more like the GOP. If they are successful, the result will almost certainly be Trump-like figures.

Then of course there is the fact that Bernie supporters have failed to keep up with their candidates complete about-face on super delegates, which is understandable because that kind of full-scale change in purported ideals is head spinning.

The one saving grace is that most are too uninformed party rules to get their demands passed. At the MN State DFL convention they celebrated the triumph of a motion supposedly banning super delegates, with no conception that what they introduced was a non-binding mood of the floor vote. Yet it is that same ignorance that underlies their push to open up more Dem primaries to Republicans, without understanding that the effect will likely be to move the party rightward.