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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Great Deception of American Democracy
For our entire lives, we have believed that our vote was equal to every other vote cast in an election.
With all the recent information and education about "super delegates" and "unpledged delegates", we are finding out that our vote may not matter at all. The national Parties have been manipulating the system to get who they want on the national tickets and denying others the right to be one of the choices of the people.
In the last election of 2012, the National Republican Committee created a rule about "winning at least 8 states" before qualifying to run for the Presidency, as a direct slap at Ron Paul. Now, they have John Kasich, who has only won one state, and they will have to change the rule again before he can qualify to run at their convention. They make the rules as they go and individual voters do not matter a whole lot.
The Democratic National Committee is no better. They created the idea of "super delegates" which make it almost impossible for anyone not chosen by the national Party to ever have a chance. About 15% of all national delegates are "appointed" by the national Party and support the candidate of their choosing. In a relative analogy, the challenger would start behind by 15 yards in a 100-yard dash and would, normally, be far behind in funding as well.
Only the recent publicizing of these deceptive practices have made the voters aware of what has been happening in the greatest "democracy on earth". Your vote doesn't count as much as you thought it did.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
tritsofme
(17,323 posts)For better or worse.
Meaningful presidential primary elections have only existed for a few decades, before that nominations were regularly decided at the convention in smoke-filled-rooms, so I'm not sure what time you are harkening back to.
There is still definitely much room for improvement, I think getting rid of super-delegates along with banning caucuses would be a big step toward a more democratic and representative process.