Legal Commentary

The Lack Of Integrity Of The Pledged Delegate System

By Big Tent Democrat

As we have known for a long time, the Democratic delegate selection process is a travesty. Starting with the disenfranchising caucus system, which shuts out legions of voters from the process, to the unbalanced proportional system of awarding delegates by congressional district (which produces such perverse results like a candidate winning 60% of the vote in a district receiving the same amount of delegates and a different candidate receiving 60% of the delegates with a 50.1% of the vote in another district), to the overweighting of regions arbitrarily and haphazardly (for example, in Nevada rural district were overweighted, in Texas urban districts were overweighted), to awarding low turnout states disproportional representation to high turnout states, the entire system is a travesty of democracy.

Let me put it bluntly, anyone holding up the pledged delegate count as representing the "will of the people" is simply full of it. It does not. It thwarts the will of the people. BY DESIGN. Now we have the latest bit of evidence that the pledged delegate system is a total crock:

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama succeeded in driving more supporters to the Nevada state convention than his opponent U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, who had won the state in the Jan. 19 caucuses. Obama essentially reversed Clinton’s lead from the caucuses, capturing 55 percent of the state delegates to Clinton’s 45 percent.

Remember when the likes of Kid Oakland and TINS were screaming about voter disenfranchisement at the Nevada caucuses in January? How about this utter disregard for those votes? Will there be any honest person in the Obama supporters camp willing to address this disgrace? Of course not. They will whoop it up.

This is a disgusting spectacle. A travesty of democracy. And to hear Donna Brazile and her ilk justify their ego driven blocking of the seating of the Florida and Michigan delegations in the face of this incontrovertible evidence that the RULZ are a disgrace just burns me up.

In my opinion, Barack Obama will be the nominee of the Democratic Party. At this point I believe he is the choice, by a very narrow margin, of the will of the people as I believe he still leads in the popular vote. But never forget this, the Democratic Party has shamed itself with its disregard for democracy and voters.

This disgraceful system can not stand any more after this nomination process is over.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only.

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Full post as published by TalkLeft on May 17, 2008 (boomark / email).