Joe Biden, Senator from Citibank (oops, DELAWARE), to Run for President

... because the current system benefits them.

yes, i know! that's why sentence two is in there: someone has to MAKE them do it, and unless i'm missing it, i'm not sure where that effort is coming from

eventually, bread riots

but aren't those decisions made at the state party level anyway?

well, who decides which states get to go first, and who gets to go last? maybe it makes sense to give the first votes to states that have figured out how to update their voting systems beyond the 19th century

the DNC can presumably not certify delegates from any state party that doesn't conduct the kind of election they want

they should all go on the same day. and then there should be a second round.

second round is superfluous with ranked choice voting

the state by state stuff is charming but anti-democratic. it makes the whole thing about "momentum."

I suppose you could run off the top 2 just so people who might not have coped with the ranking process can have another whack at it but it's not really necessary

*extremely somebody voice* America is antidemocratic

well that's not strictly true of course, the 19th and 20th centuries saw lots of major reforms towards a more democratic/less patrician electoral system at various levels. Dunno if it worked!

well, who decides which states get to go first, and who gets to go last?

the states do! Doesn't Iowa have it *written into their Constitution* that their primaries are first in the nation?

sorry, CAUCUSES

there is no reason to do it like that

the DNC can presumably not certify delegates from any state party that doesn't conduct the kind of election they want

that sounds like a good way to destroy the party/create massive levels of in-fighting over "local control" etc.

local party organizations are presumably all hopped-up social clubs devoted to protecting the worst local-politician scum on earth

I'm sure we've already discussed that a national same-day primary privileges candidates with national organizations, national reach, money for national advertising, etc. - and that an upstart insurgent candidate would fare worse, not better, in such a scenario?

the reason it's done like that is because that's how the states want it.

I like how you all (which, to a one, talk about the DNC like they are the Elders of Zion) are implicitly arguing for the DNC to take an even more expansive view of their powers and dictate rules to local parties.

xps

wow, elders of zion

you guys are delusional/terrible strategists

well, it would mean the primary campaign starting right after inauguration day

xxxps

like, you complain on the one hand that the DNC rigged the primaries but on the other hand loathe the local parties and want the DNC to tell them what to do. yeah, that makes sense.

whence my obligation to make sense

but aren't those decisions made at the state party level anyway? I don't think reforms could be enforced from the top (not even sure what the top is here... the DNC? the nominee?) down.

from what i can tell, it's not so much a "decision" as a "tradition" that everyone keeps mindlessly following. the states don't unilaterally make the decision, and the DNC doesn't either - it's supposed to be the "democratic party" coordinating on it, whatever that means. is the "democratic party" the DNC, the local organizations, or both?

sorry, lol i'm actually "presenting" at work right now, i better concentrate on that for a moment

the Democratic Party doesn't actually exist, we've been over that too

Do you have any political views that aren’t sucking yourself off at your own genius or slay kweening Pelosi?

when Bernie talks about a grassroots revolution what do you think he is talking about? He's talking about taking over the party apparatus from the bottom - ie, the local parties, up through the state parties/delegations, up through the DNC, and from there to national institutions.

It seems more like you want a specific minority of the party to just seize the levers of power.

Hmmm

xps

That was many xps obv

I think it would be good for the left to seize the levers of power, yes

roll out mr choppy

ok, not in the Iowa constitution, it was just a law passed by the state legislature. Says their caucuses must be held 8 days before any other state's.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2004/01/why-the-iowa-caucus-comes-first.html

a Sanders-canvassing friend shared this on his FB page today: https://medium.com/@srwm1138/im-a-bernie-volunteer-here-s-how-joe-biden-can-win-bernie-voters-6da47bbf4d52

some mischievous state should hold theirs on January 3

Do you have any political views that aren’t sucking yourself off at your own genius or slay kweening Pelosi?

Shakes should make this a poll.

The US electoral system is a hodge-podge of state laws as implemented by county clerks and registrars. Among other things, elections cost money and this basic fact emerges in different ways in each of those jurisdictions. Cost cutting has always been popular with voters and clinging to old ways is often cheaper than retooling.

Then there is the historic overhang of local political machines that developed in the nineteenth century, as modified by the progressive/good government movement, other grassroots movements like grangers, and the titanic interplay of Jim Crow vs. federal civil rights statutes and hundreds, if not thousands, of judicial decisions over more than two centuries of internecine struggles.

iow, it's an organic growth from countless local conditions over a very long time and a horrifying sloppy mess. don't expect it to make sense as a rational system.

all of that seems right!

but then...where does that leave us? if it's up to the states to self-reform, we're screwed. if it's up to the DNC, we're screwed. if it's up to politicians and people who hold influence, we're screwed.

i would love to see someone run on comprehensive election reform - everything from the financing to electoral college to the type of voting system (ranked choice voting, etc) to gerrymandering to voter suppression to the obscene amount of time these elections take.

every single one of those reforms is fraught with practical difficulties, and yet most people (outside of the political parties) seem to be capable of understanding the deep flaws with each of them. it's not just one thing that's the problem, and many of the problems are connected. so why not shoot for the moon and try to fix all of them at once?

(i understand i'm being naively open-minded about this. but god, can someone point me the way toward fixing even 1/10th of the problem here? anything in progress that i can pour my hopes and dreams into, in the meantime? is anything even close? there's stuff like the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. what else?)

thought twice about it, and yes, the job biden thread is the proper place for such a conversation

that's number one

can someone point me the way toward fixing even 1/10th of the problem here?

Maybe bubble up? Advocate first for reform of local elections, then county, then state, etc.

You have a lot more chance of influencing the East Podunk nonpartisan school board election than the presidential election. From there, go to the Podunkia County manager election, and from thence on upward

my city council member is from the Socialist Alternative party and my House Rep is cochair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, is East Podunk gonna do their part or no?

get it?

Thanks to the obnoxiousness of online Biden supporters, I'm not voting for him.

— Marshall Steinbaum 🔥🍉 (@Econ_Marshall) April 8, 2020

whiiiiiiiiiiiiine

look at all these brave boys who proudly can’t see the difference between biden and trump

it's a joek, son, pointing out the unique disqualifiers that Serious People invented for Sanders

I know but it’s just bullshit at this point. I’m a Bernie supporter and it is still plainly obvious to me that Bernie bros are 1000000x more obnoxious, offensive, and unethical on social media than any DNC stooge. People are so wrapped up in this culture war bullshit that Trump feeds on.

I hate to break it to you, but people don’t vote based on social media, and the only difference between abusiveness of various groups of supporters is whose gets collated and commented on. 🙃

I don't give a fuckitty

I WILL vote for Biden... if it looks like he could lose NY

bernie supporters are dicks but i haven't seen hordes of them calling a rape survivor a liar recently so