Friday, June 15, 2018

Democrats Struggle to Reform and Unify

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Late one night last week as I was perusing Twitter for the last time before calling it a night, I happened upon a tweet that caught my attention:

A Message to the Unity Reform Commission
What we want:
  • CLOSED Primaries
  • No Caucuses
  • Super Delegates to Remain
  • Presidential Candidates must be registered as a DEMOCRAT for 2 years prior to seeking the Democratic Party nomination
  • All presidential candidates MUST release 10 years of income taxes

A single individual had posted the tweet, so I assumed the "we" in "what we want" was the royal "we."

That tweet stoked more than a few feelings.  As someone who has registered in states where a statement of party affiliation or "independent" is required, I always chose "independent" because I regard my voting proclivities as nobody's business but my own.  Closed primaries force voters to register with one major party or the other, or sit the process out.  I always felt that was somewhat less than democratic.

(Missouri, FYI, does not require a declaration of party affiliation when registering, giving knuckleheads like me the ability to vote in either party's primary.)

The notion that presidential candidates must be registered as a "DEMOCRAT" (emphasis courtesy of the tweeter), was an obvious dig at Bernie Sanders, the goat on which some Hillary stalwarts tried to blame her loss to Trump.  (Anne Rice, I'm looking at you!)

The other provision of this royal demand that bothered me was the notion that the Democratic Party should keep using "super delegates," those hoary old office holders and professional politicians who think they deserve a vote in the final candidate selection based solely on their status as senior Democrats.  I replied back to the tweeter asking why she felt it was necessary to keep super delegates, and, not surprisingly, she bit my head off.  The tweeter defended super delegates with this reply:

"Because they have devoted their careers supporting, donating, canvassing, governing, and promoting Our policies for Democrats.  Super delegates have NEVER picked Our candidates, the voters have - Learn History.  If Republicans had SD's, Trump wouldn't be President."

Being somewhat of a farmer, I recognized the pungent scent of fertilizer, but I chose to ignore the taunt to "learn history" and go to bed instead.

But, as Paul Harvey used to say, here is the rest of the story:  Lots of young people work toward having a say in the Party by supporting, donating, canvassing, and promoting Democratic policies, and they should not have their avenues to influence blocked by some eighty-two-year-old senator who feels entitled to hold a permanent seat at the convention.  Republican super delegates might have kept Trump out of the White House - who knows?  But it is just as likely that a Democratic convention free of the heavy-handed influence of super delegates would have nominated someone with less baggage than Mrs. Bill Clinton and might have even won the election.

That was then, but this is now.

Now the Democratic Party has a working group called the Unity Reform Commission (the group to which the above tweet was addressed).  The URC was created by a resolution proposed by the Democratic National Convention Rules Committee and subsequently approved by delegates to the 2016 national convention.  It is made up of 21 members appointed by Secretary Clinton, Senator Sanders, and DNC Chair Tom Perez.   The chair is Jennifer O'Malley Dillon of Washington, DC, and the vice chair is Larry Cohen, also of Washington, DC.

The URC seeks to empower Democrats to participate in the party at every level.  It is looking at key elements in the party process including:

  • increasing participation in the presidential nominating process;
  • ways to engage new and unaffiliated voters;
  • the role of unpledged delegates;  and,
  • how to rebuild and make the party competitive all across the country.
The URC has held two public meetings so far this year - Washington, DC, in May, and San Antonio in June.   Public meetings are planned for Chicago on August 25-26, and Las Vegas on October 18-21.

The tweeter who got me fired up in the first place was right about one thing.  Now is definitely the time for those interested in making change within the Democratic Party to make their voices heard.  Defeating the Trump forces of darkness will require Democrats fielding the strongest teams possible, and that stands the best chance of happening if we all force our way to the table and make our voices heard.

That's what democracy is - people being heard!

1 comment:

Xobekim said...

No, Rock, that we wasn't the royal we. Many Democrats believe that persons running in the Democratic primary for an office, any office, should in fact be a Democrat. I give you one Mr. Greg Orman from Kansas as an example of an opportunist that will run under any label and exploit any situation to advance his narcissistic political agenda. The man has never, in the decade or so that he has been running, made firm pronouncements on policy positions. He has managed to drain off Democratic votes offering the illusion that he is somehow different than the Republican opponent. Hell yes I want only Democrats in the Democratic Party.

As for the bellyachers who want to remain unaffiliated voters they can do themselves the disservice of registering as an unaffiliated voter after registering as a member of a political party and voting in that party's primary. Their tears fall on deaf ears here because they want the machinery of a political party but are to damn lazy to knock the doors necessary to support that party.

Neither political party has strong grassroots structural integrity. This leads to a reliance on donations from outside groups. Democrats align fairly well with groups like Trial Lawyers and Unions. But the political apparatus is compromised by the influence of certain corporate and banking interests who spread their money like an addicted gambler covering all sides of a high stakes wager.

If persons don't want to support Democrats then they should get the Hell out of the Democratic Party and form their own damn party.