Get ready to rumble. The Democrats have voted to limit the power of superdelegates in their presidential nominating process; this will undoubtedly widen the super-sized schism between elites and progressives.
Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman Tom Perez passed the proposal that will eliminate superdelegate voting in the first round of ballots in the 2020 presidential nomination process. Provided there was a need for second-round, superdelegates would be allowed to cast a vote, effectively neutering the immense power of first-round delegates.
Under this reform, superdelegates – or unpledged delegates – will only be able to vote for president if no candidate received a majority after the first round of balloting.
And as one can imagine, the party elites are spitting mad. Why, you may ask? Sounds fair enough, right? Well, except that such a scenario hasn’t occurred in more than thirty years.
The new policy will whack votes from approximately 14% of national convention delegates, including two-thirds of the Democratic members of Congress, former presidents, state and local party officials, and state party chairs and vice chairs – the very same people who rigged the outcome for Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders.
Although final counts show a Clinton victory – Clinton beat Sanders by 359 pledged delegates, and 884 delegates overall (including superdelegates) – shenanigans surrounding the process created suspicious minds in progressives.
The “bern” of that 2016 debacle is still a festering sore for half of registered Democrat voters and has prompted a few brave folks to consider bringing the party back to the people. Can you imagine?
And adding insult to injury for the Bernie Bros, just a few weeks ago, the DNC passed a rule stating, “At the time a presidential candidate announces their candidacy publicly, they must publicly affirm that they are a Democrat.” Another attempt to dispense, properly, of the pesky Independent Senator from Vermont.
The Un-democratic Democratic Party
The creation of superdelegates lopped democracy out of the presidential primary process. In several 1981 surveys, the death knell was, alarmingly, tolling for the Democrat Party.
A University of Michigan study commissioned by the DNC in 1980 revealed that 41% of the electorate considered themselves Democrats. One short year later, that number was 31% and more shocking was the rise of Republicans in that same year from 23% to 27%, portending doom for the donkey.
If that wasn’t chilling enough, a white paper authored by California’s 43rd and 44th Assembly District Democratic Councils in May 1981, boldly stated a most un-American of sentiments, “By bringing the process ‘to the people,’ the Democratic Party has lost its leadership, collective vision and ties to its past.”
I shudder to think of good Democrats living through that “past.”
As politicians are wont to do, they commissioned a panel of party bigwigs and elected officials to change the game plan for the nomination process by creating unpledged delegates – which made up about 15% of overall votes. A lot of power to wield.
Off Balance
Perez, and his ragtag gang – supporters if you will – are making headway with several unlikely party leaders. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) and former Vermont Governor and fanatical liberal and former presidential candidate Howard Dean have pledged their fealty to Perez’s plan.
The interesting twist is that two short years ago after a Sanders supporter criticized superdelegate Howard Dean for sticking with Clinton despite Sanders’ landslide victory in Vermont, Dean tweeted this elitist comment: “Superdelegates don’t ‘represent the people’… I’ll do what I think is right for the country.”
And then he walked that statement back just this past week, tweeting, “Good for Tom Perez. I’m a superdelegate and I agree this is a good compromise.”
The Democrats change their mind more than a debutante changes her dress before a coming out party.
But we have a few mouthy detractors as well.
Bob Mullholland, California Democratic Party senior advisor and longtime chief spokesperson is crying Russian interference, claiming “The Putin operation is still active.” He went so far in his delusional ranting, he hit ‘send’ after penning this email to Perez and beleaguered Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN):
“Now I understand that the two of you are conspiring with Bernie Sanders to block Congress members John Lewis (see photo of police beating Lewis), Maxine Waters, Barbara Lee and the rest of the congressional delegation, Governors, State Party Chairs and the rest of us DNC Members from entering our Convention floor in 2020 as voters. I don’t know if you will have paid thugs at the doorways to beat up Congressman Lewis and the rest of us or not.”
The Show is Just Getting Good
Does anyone else see a faint resemblance to the antics of the Republican elite in 2015 as Trump was crashing through the country asking Americans to “Make America Great Again,” or is just me?
The Democrats have an impending civil war that was sparked by cheating millions of progressive voters out of a true, democratic process, of selecting their nominee. They allowed the criminal elite to toss Bernie aside, and attempted to convince their voters it was for the good of the order. Their explanation of allowing dirty deeds done at the behest of the Clinton campaign and the DNC obviously did not resonate well with half of their claimed constituency.
If the Democrats want to remain relevant, it’s time for them to do a serious cleansing of the elite, burn the sage, and hang a clove of garlic around their collective neck. Or just ask the old guard to wave a flag and watch them all self-combust into the ash heap of history.
