Mar 23 2008
The Democrat’s dirty little secret: The Super Delegates
John Yoo dissects a very disturbing reality hiding in the closet in the Democrat party, the mysterious Super Delegates.
This election has, if nothing else, exposed the Democrat party's structure which is potentially very undemocratic.
Until recent weeks, one of the least understood aspects of the Democrats' primary contest was the role of superdelegates. These are Democratic Party insiders, members of Congress, and other officials who can cast ballots at the party's national convention this summer.
But now these unelected delegates are coming in for a close inspection, because neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama can win their party's nomination without superdelegate support. The big Pennsylvania primary on April 22, for example, has only 158 delegates at stake (each of them will be pledged to support one of the candidates). By comparison, there are a total of 795 superdelegates, none of whom are required to honor the will of the voters of their state at the party's convention.
Sound undemocratic? It is. That the 2008 Democratic nominee for president will be chosen by individuals no one voted for in the primaries flew for too long under the commentariat's radar. This from the party that litigated to "make every vote count" in the 2000 Florida recount, reviled the institution of the Electoral College for letting the loser of the national popular election win the presidency, and has called the Bush administration illegitimate ever since.
Democratic Party reforms in 1982 gave super-delegates about 20% of convention votes -- so that party greybeards can stop a popular, but politically extreme, candidate from seizing the nomination. The Democrats deliberately rejiggered their party's rules to head off insurgent candidates, like a George McGovern or a Jimmy Carter, who might be crushed in the general election. Unelected delegates thus have more than twice the votes of the richest state prize, California.
So much for unfiltered democracy. In truth, the Democratic Party runs by rules that are the epitome of the smoke-filled room and ensure, in essence, that congressional incumbents exercise a veto power over the nomination.
Indeed. The Democrats laud themselves as always being the party that cares the most about the votes of the common people, and about protecting the constitution, yet they are poised on the eve of totally disenfranchising complete states.
And in the process, they are really going directly against the intention of the US Constitution:
This delegate dissonance wasn't anything the Framers of the U.S. Constitution dreamed up. They believed that letting Congress choose the president was a dreadful idea. Without direct election by the people, the Framers said that the executive would lose its independence and vigor and become a mere servant of the legislature. They had the record of revolutionary America to go on. All but one of America's first state constitutions gave state assemblies the power to choose the governor. James Madison commented that this structure allowed legislatures to turn governors into "little more than ciphers."
That's why, during the Constitutional Convention in 1787, the Framers rejected early proposals to follow any such model. New York delegate Gouverneur Morris explained that if Congress picked the president, he "will not be independent of it; and if not independent, usurpation and tyranny on the part of the Legislature will be the consequence." Choosing the president would result from the "work of intrigue, of cabal, and of faction." After weeks of debate, the Framers vested the presidency with its own base of popular support by establishing a national election, saying that the president should represent the views of the entire people, not the wishes of Congress.
And is this really important? Will it have an impact before, during and after the election?
The Clinton and Obama campaigns are now competing hard to win superdelegates. Members of Congress no doubt will cut deals for themselves and their constituents. A water project here, some pet legislation there -- surely such details are worth the nomination. Lose, and the candidate pays nothing. Win, and a presidency is gained. Like shareholders deciding whether to sell in a tender offer, superdelegates will bargain ferociously until the moment that the nominee secures a delegate majority. As we close in on the Democratic convention, the demand for superdelegates will escalate, with the choice of the nominee becoming increasingly the work of political intrigue, inside deals, and power struggles among special interest groups -- just as the Framers feared.
A nominee who survives this process will come to the presidency weighed down by dozens, if not hundreds, of commitments. Little hope there for a fresh start, or any break from a politics-as-usual Congress.
So there you have it. So much for the hope of change.
I have no advice for the Democrats to dig themselves out of this mess, and I freely admit that I am indulging in shadenfraud as they are slowly finding their righteous indignation on Florida 2000 coming home to roost, not to mention the 2004 Washington Gubernatorial debacle.
And by the way, that is why I will not to this day refer to them as the "Democrat-ic Party". I will, when they can live up to the name with a straight face.
Trackposted to Rosemary's Thoughts, A Blog For All, The Beauty Stop, 123beta, Right Truth, Stuck On Stupid, Big Dog's Weblog, Phastidio.net, The Amboy Times, InvestorBlogger, Cao's Blog, Conservative Cat, ARISTO_GATTA, Nuke Gingrich, third world county, Faultline USA, McCain Blogs, Woman Honor Thyself, The World According to Carl, Miss Beth's Victory Dance, Pirate's Cove, Blue Star Chronicles, , The Pink Flamingo, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, Wolf Pangloss, , Stageleft, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
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