It seems that 2020 will be a resumption of the battle from 2016, where many believe the Democratic National Committee screwed over the Bernie Sanders campaign with 400 superdelegates being allowed to pledge their vote to Hillary Clinton before a single member of the public voted for their choice of candidate. Some might say, including me, that this is not a democracy, this is an old boy ‘elite’ club.
In 2020, superdelegates are not allowed to vote until after the public has voted, but the superdelegates still have the power to overturn the plurality of votes, in the simplest of terms, vote against the will of the people of the state the superdelegates represent. Recently in a NY Times report, 10% of superdelegates would risk damage to the party to stop Sanders from getting the nomination, even if he has the plurality of votes, but not a majority, which is likely, given the number of runners, at the DNC convention.
Let’s be honest here, the DNC is nothing more than an old boys club, where the elites push their own agendas. The Sanders candidacy has really shown in both 2016 and 2020, that is the case. Sanders represents the people, not the rich donors, who control the superdelegates in the Democratic party.
It’s time for the likes of Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg, and others who are polling in single digits to drop out, to let Sanders and Biden fight it out for a majority. But that won’t happen because they hope that the superdelegates take the nomination from Sanders and hand it to one of them. If Sanders did get a majority, it would be harder for the DNC to screw him out of the nomination.
If the DNC decides to ignore the will of the American people and anoint their own nominee, I believe that the majority of Sanders supporters will become brick voters, throwing bricks (with a very clear message attached) through the windows of DNC towers, handing a second term to the impeached one. The movement is bigger than Sanders, the people are pissed off with the current system, Sanders’s slogan “Not Me, Us”, is very accurate, big changes are coming, the Republican and Democratic parties are a dying breed, revolution is happening, the DNC may be able to slow it, but they cannot stop it.
Although I cannot vote in 2020 because I am not eligible for US citizenship until 2022, I do not subscribe to the mantra of “vote blue no matter who“, I’d rather vote for a third-party candidate, I won’t vote for a party that does not believe in democracy. The Republican primary process is more democratic, they don’t have superdelegates, the popular vote determines the nominee, this is how we ended up with Trump in the White House, because, the anointed one, Hillary Clinton couldn’t get the job done for the Democrats.
I’m not against the DNC choosing their own nominee, it’s how it works in my home country of the UK, the party members choose their leader, who will become Prime Minister should the public vote for enough Members of Parliament from their party for a majority in Parliament. I take issue with the primary system, allowing the public to vote, then ignoring their vote, by their own admission at the convention. Stop the bullshit, be honest, stop giving the impression that the people’s vote matters, and abandon the primary system, then the voters can have their say in the general election, about their anointed one.
I believe in one person, one vote, and whoever gets the most votes wins. None of this majority bullshit, with half dozen candidates, no-one is going to reach 51%. Clearly, one of two things needs to happen, the superdelegates are abolished, or the primary system needs to go, these two things are incompatible with each other, superdelegates should not Trump (pun intended) the will of the American people.
UPDATE [Mar, 2 2020, 12:52]: There have been some happenings since I wrote this article; Amy Klobuchar, and Pete Buttigieg have dropped out of the race, in addition to Tom Steyer. Obviously, this is to consolidate the centrist vote towards Joe Biden. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Warren remains in the race, pulling votes from Bernie Sanders, despite her not having a path to the nomination, other than the DNC handing her the nomination, as unlikely as that is. Super Tuesday is tomorrow, let’s see how it pans out.