The election processs in the US has the reputation of being democratic and fair. It’s a nice idea, but it’s far from the truth. With the Electoral College making the actual nominations, it’s becoming more and more irrelevant who the actual populace votes for to represent a party.
From Wikipedia: “electors are simply important persons whose wisdom, it is hoped, would provide a better choice than a larger body.” And this gem: “The system can ignore the wishes of a general membership, whose thinking may not be considered.”
Ya think? The electoral college is an ancient technique used by the church for crying out loud! It should be abolished.
Add the Democrats’ superdelegates to the mix and you get even less input as to who will represent the party. Republicans have something similar (Republican National Convention), but not nearly to the extent as the Dems.
I think we have the technology to count the actual votes in this country. I think the Electoral College has ceased to be relevant. I think that we’d have more participation if a person felt that his actual vote was counted. As it is – despite the fact that most young people don’t even know how the election process works – the more one finds out about the process, the more marginalised one feels.
Here’s a final quote from Wiki to get your dander up for the day:
“At the 2008 Democratic National Convention the superdelegates will make up approximately one-fifth of the total number of delegates. The […] closeness of the race between the leading contenders Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama following Super Tuesday has focused attention on the potential role of the superdelegates in selecting the Democratic nominee, inasmuch as in the aggregate they could come to be kingmakers to a degree not seen in previous election cycles.[2] Such an outcome would result in the first brokered convention [make SURE to read what this means!] since 1952.”
Put that in your democracy and smoke it.