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THE RULES MATTER
The Weekly Standard Magazine ^ | Dec. 4, 2015 | Jay Cost

Posted on 12/07/2015 8:12:56 AM PST by SatinDoll

...The party voters possess the formal power to decide, but there is a vast infrastructure of donors, strategists, and insiders — an elite establishment — whose job is to control informally the people's decision.

(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...


TOPICS: Campaign News; Parties
KEYWORDS: elites; politics; rules; trump
There it is!! That word, elite.

The party voters cannot be trusted to recognize a nations leader so we must have others who are elite do it for us.

I found this article revolting. The Republicans just do not understand, do they?

Trump has integrity; you know, honesty. He tells the truth. The GOP elite do not.

1 posted on 12/07/2015 8:12:56 AM PST by SatinDoll
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To: SatinDoll

I totally agree with you.

The “donors” use their money to create COMMERCIALS to support their candidate or policy positions. They do that to set the tone for the election in a certain direction. They actually poison the conversation so people do not get a real sense of what the True issues are .. or who the Real candidate is.

This is where Trump has an advantage. He doesn’t have donors running ads .. he makes his own positions known to the people .. without any “donor” filters.

It’s no wonder the elites and the MSM are having fits .. nobody has ever challenged them quite so thoroughly before.


2 posted on 12/07/2015 8:21:12 AM PST by CyberAnt ("The fields are white unto Harvest")
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To: SatinDoll

“But this mutual geniality has been replaced with condescension and suspicion, which has created a massive power vacuum for a demagogue like Trump to fill.”

We have been down THIS road before and RECENTLY!

It’s ALL a mirror image of what the DNC pulled on the US back when “O” first ran for the nomination!!

Don’t like it? Too f#@8ing bad!


3 posted on 12/07/2015 8:21:33 AM PST by SMARTY ("What is freedom? To have the will to be responsible for one's self. "M. Stirner)
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To: SatinDoll
Looks like Jay decided to focus on the GOP and especially Trump as far as "insuring integrity with the voters".....

To Jay, and those like him, I say:

Now for a short public service announcement to all on FR:
We need to ensure we don't get another Obama-like America Hater as the next President.
The best way to ensure that is to actively support a candidate as the next President.
I prefer Cruz and my money goes to his campaign, hence the Cruz link. If you like someone else, donate to him/her (find your own link to do it) and if you use FR and don't donate, then please don't complain about the welfare leeches or those who have Obama Phones because, functionally, you are no different than any other FReeloader

PS - If you are one of those who cannot afford even a small donation to FR or a candidate, God Bless and happy FReeping!.....

GO CRUZ!! Keep it up Trump!!

Donate to FR

Donate to Cruz

Donate to FR

4 posted on 12/07/2015 8:23:25 AM PST by trebb (Where in the the hell has my country gone?)
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The Next FReepathon


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Support FR, Donate Monthly If You Can

5 posted on 12/07/2015 8:38:09 AM PST by DJ MacWoW (The Fed Gov is not one ring to rule them all)
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To: SatinDoll

Oh, but the republicans DO understand. If the “elite” can’t appoint their chosen candidate, they will use every dirty underhanded trick in the book (up to and including backing the democrats) to get a suitable candidate elected.

With Trump and Cruz being so far ahead of all of the candidates that the GOPe has fielded so far, it will be interesting to see how the GOPe will attempt to counter them in the primaries.


6 posted on 12/07/2015 8:55:41 AM PST by factoryrat (We are the producers, the creators. Grow it, mine it, build it.)
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To: factoryrat

If Trump and Cruz and Carson can keep each other from getting 51% of the requisite number of primaries then GOPe wins. They get to name their man at the Convention as a compromise or consensus (sic, sic, and sick) candidate whether or not that candidate got any votes in the primaries or not.


7 posted on 12/07/2015 10:48:45 AM PST by arthurus (Het is waar. Tutti i liberali sono feccia.)
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To: SatinDoll

The GOPe is losing power and beside themselves with angst. If Trump is your guy, you will hate this story -— but it is an extremely long lesson on the inner-workings of the GOPe and how we keep getting candidates that we hold our nose to vote for time and time again. If we pick apart these elements and work hard to systematically change them, maybe we can finally regain control of what is “supposed” to be a party of Conservative principles:

Quote the article: “Changing the rules of a game can change the outcome of the game, and the rules of the presidential nomination system underwent a massive change in the 1970s.
The old system concentrated power in state and local organizations . . .”

“A republic, if you can keep it.” -— Benjamin Franklin

Quote the article: “Following the tumult of the 1968 convention, the Democrats instituted nomination reforms that Republicans eventually mimicked.”

Anyone else see a problem with Republicans structuring themselves by mimicking Democrats?!?

Quote the article: “The nomination power shifted from the state and local parties [a Constitutional Republic] toward the people themselves [Popular Democracy], through primaries and open caucuses.”

We did the same Republic=>Democracy with the 17th Amendment to the Constitution in the early 19th century allowing Direct Election of Senators.

Quote the article: “The party voters possess the formal power to decide, but there is a vast infrastructure of donors, strategists, and insiders - an elite establishment - whose job is to control [!!!] informally the people’s decision.”

They are trying to control generally uninformed “Democracy” with paid “news media” and political ads -— which only works if the people aren’t thinking and able to research for themselves.

Quote the article: “It doesn’t alter the fact that the people at large still lack the capacity to make the best choices on their own. [!!!]

So here is their arrogance in print -— but in response to establishment manipulation, various groups including the Tea Party rose up to energize and inform voters of the way things are supposed to be and they ways that the elites have manipulated the system to concentrate power in their own hands.

Quote the article: “Indeed, that is one of the foundational premises of representative government.”

NO -— the foundational premis of representative government is that the government closest to the people represents the people best, and that representation transfers up a hierarchy from local, to the states, to the federal level.

Quote the article: “The power of the people is supreme in our system, but it is delegated to representatives . . .”

Elected Representatives -— not self-important and self-chosen elites with the money and resources to manipulate the system, negate the “voice” of the voters of each individual state, and affect the outcome at the national level.

Quote the article: “Now that this is gone, and voters are increasingly unbound by the guiding hand of the elites, they have fallen prey . . .
After this cycle, the Republican party desperately needs to reform its rules.
Without that foundation, the rules are a liability and need to be substantially redrafted.”

HOW ABOUT WE STOP THE POLITICAL POWER-BROKER TINKERING AND GO BACK TO OUR ORIGINAL FOUNDATIONAL CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC???


8 posted on 12/07/2015 1:24:07 PM PST by LTC.Ret
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