Wednesday, May 18, 2016

First it was Trump- now it is Bernie's people learning that the primary and caucus systems are rigged

By SJ Otto


Now the Bernie Sanders supporters are realizing what Donald Trump learned last month; the primary and caucuses are not very democratic. They are run by the political party elites and voter participation is not their main purpose.
Recently I ran an article on Trump's realizations that the Republican Party selection of candidates was rigged in favor of party leadership. Now Bernie supporters are realizing the same thing in the Democratic Party. The candidate selection process is rigged in their party also, designed to allow "super delegates" to act as trump cards, to over-ride a candidate the people chose in favor of a candidate that is acceptable to party leadership.
In the Wyoming caucus Sanders won a clear majority of the votes, but Hillary Clinton got the majority of the delegates. According to the Wyoming Tribute Eagle;

"Critics – inside and outside Wyoming – have questioned the system that allowed Clinton to come out ahead in the delegate count. They’ve also knocked the state Democratic Party because absentee ballots sent out by the Clinton campaign had a return address of the Wyoming Democratic Party’s Cheyenne post office box – which some say gave the appearance of the party officially endorsing the former U.S. secretary of state."
And in Nevada Yahoo News reported;

"Nevada's Democratic party on Monday warned the Democratic National Committee that Sen. Bernie Sanders' supporters have a penchant for violence and may seek to disrupt the party's national convention in July, as they did during the Nevada convention Saturday.
The allegation is the latest fallout from a divisive Nevada Democratic convention that had to be shut down because security at the Paris Las Vegas hotel could no longer ensure order on Saturday night. The gathering closed with some Sanders supporters throwing chairs; later, some made death threats against state party chairwoman Roberta Lange.
Sanders' backers had been protesting convention rules that ultimately led to Hillary Clinton winning more pledged delegates. Clinton won the state's caucuses in February, 53-47, but Sanders backers hoped to pick up extra delegates by packing county and state party gatherings."


Violence from Sanders' people have not been happening in earlier caucuses. Many of these people are young and new to the presidential campaign system. The unfairness to Sanders has clearly upset many of them. It may not be a good course of action, but there is some logic as to why such violence broke out. People need to take back control of the political system. This is more evidence that our presidential campaigns lack real democracy and a real choice of candidates in the primary election and caucus systems. This is a major problem with having a two-party system. This is why we really need a multi-party system.
In a Saturday, May 14, 2016 photo, supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders react as U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., speaks during the Nevada State Democratic Party’s 2016 State Convention at the Paris hotel-casino in Las Vegas. The Nevada Democratic Convention turned into an unruly and unpredictable event, after tension with organizers led to some Bernie Sanders supporters throwing chairs and to security clearing the room, organizers said. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP) 

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