To restore democracy, do we need to get rid of some Super Delegates ?

[Melissa G]

Quite a lot of us around this forum spend quite a lot of time trying to register voters and makes sure our votes count. Looking at the chart in this article makes the effort feel a bit futile. The Democratic Party hierarchy sure does have a lot of say in who gets to have a shot at representing "We, the the people". Even the Pubs are better at letting their votes decide their nominee.

So not only do we have to fight the Corporate media, the voting machine contingent, corrupt officials at DoJ and Rove's other minions to try to make sure our 'one person, one vote' matters,
our own party dilutes our voices with 796 Super Delegates compared to only 153 for the Repubs.

Read the article and do your own math. I found it depressing how much weight goes to the super delegate vote.
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[Gman]

1. No we don't

the system has functioned very well for many years. If it doesn't suit someone's candidate, then that's too bad. Try again next time.

[DJ13]

3. Actually I think superdelegates should be ended

Its sole purpose is to give the good old boys (and girls) influence in making sure "one of their own" has an advantage in obtaining the nomination.

[Melissa G]

5. OK, it does not bother you that your vote is diluted by more than a

fifth by the votes of unelected delegates. It does bug me. We can just agree to disagree.

[Gman]

10. Superdelegates serve a good purpose

they maintain sanity. They are a check against a crazy being nominated. That may sound far fetched, but that's their purpose. Super delegates do work to the advantage of "the establishment" because of their nature. But they also keep the party from lurching too hard too fast in any one direction.

I understand your concern, but to me, the system seems to have withstood the test of time.

[DesertFlower]

2. i think we need to get rid of them.

[rosesaylavee]

4. I think it would be good to look at the whole process

and put it out for the people to reconsider. Do we keep the electoral college? Do the super delegates adequately represent their districts? By discussing it and reviewing it, a better understanding of the process would involve more voters... there may be better voter turnout if it was a national discussion.

And what about moving the voter day to a weekend? Why in the heck is in on a Tuesday? When did that start? If it were on a Saturday, more people would be involved as election judges. If we do have election machines someday that are secure, we will need to have a group of election judges comfortable with technology.

[Melissa G]

7. I agree that we should look at the whole process.

I'm curious if there has been a recent growth in super delegates. I can't complain, as I have gone to State couple of times as a delegate at large

[panader0]

6. The way I define Democracy is: ONE PERSON, ONE VOTE.

Caucus versus primary, delegate versus superdelegate, popular vote versus electoral vote == NOT DEMOCRACY!!
The whole system needs an overhaul.

[angrycarpenter]

8. the practice keeps a candidate from taking over the party

The party must endure from one candidate to the next. A maverick could win the nomination without sanction from the party do things that are against party platform and leave office with the party broken and divided. It is not perfect but it helps insure survival for the party.

666th post. spooky.

[Melissa G]

9. Still over a fifth of the vote to the party regulars is a pretty big thumb

on the scale. Don't ya think?

[angrycarpenter]

11. I never said it was fair

I don't even actually agree with it. I was just stating the reason for it. I don't know how they arrived at the figure but for now they are the party leadership. If enough democrats make them aware of their displeasure they may change it. I am sure most are like me and hadn't even heard of it until recently.

[Melissa G]

12. Yup, me too. I had never paid attention to how many super delegates there were

until this article showed me the graph. The weight is outside of my comfort zone.

[yourout]

13. I would argue that super delegates are MORE likely to get a nut the nomination.

The more power you put in fewer hands the more likely that power will corrupted.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

14. er uh exactly what did you mean "get rid of"?

heh ;)

[Melissa G]

15. LOL...

I mean consider that perhaps the voice of the voter does not need quite so much dilution to keep the party stable. What did you have in mind or was that who did you have in mind? ;)