[Grovenet] Democracy Killing Democrats (and vice versa)

[Jeff Cooper]

Here's a general observation about the election:

The Republicans have a "winner take all" approach to primaries... so that if a candidate wins by only a few votes, all the state's delegates are pledged to them (I'm not sure if this is true in all states, but in the ones I monitored this year, that was the case, please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about this).  By doing this the Republicans get a quick front-runner, the others drop out, and there is little political infighting. 

The Democrats, by contrast, parcel out the delegates in each state according to the percentage of the popular vote.  Although this seems to be the height of the democratic process, look at the result.  No clear front-runner, constant political infighting, and (from what I read recently) the height of non-democratic result: super delegates possibly determining the nomination. 

My "solution" is that the Democrats need to seriously reconsider their method of determining their candidate in the future.  Over 30 years ago the national high school debate topic was on this very issue, and the majority of the cases revolved on the holding of a national primary.  Of course there are pros and cons to this (which makes for lively debate!), but at the time my own personal feelings were that this was the best way to select a candidate.  Other cases involved the removal of the electoral college (but that's another discussion point).

My feeling is that the Democrats seriously need to revamp their format of selecting candidates at this point, perhaps considering either a national primary or using the Republican method of state winner take all primaries.  There are certainly drawbacks to both of those choices; however, having this nomination determined by super delegates will be the worst possible option and outcomes for the party.  They are already inflicting severe self-wounds by the current method of selection.  Can they recover in time for November?  What about future elections?  In-party reform is called for.

Regards,

Jeff Cooper
Lifelong Democrat (with a brief stint in the Green Party)

       
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