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Primary Process Is Seen as in Conflict With Democracy
NY Times ^ | APRIL 9, 2016 | JEREMY W. PETERS

Posted on 04/09/2016 12:28:00 PM PDT by McGruff

When it comes to nominating presidential candidates, it turns out the world’s foremost democracy is not so purely democratic.

For decades, both major parties have used a somewhat convoluted process for picking their nominees, one that involves ordinary voters in only an indirect way. As Americans flock this year to outsider candidates, the kind most hindered by these rules, they are suddenly waking up to this reality. And their confusion and anger are adding another volatile element to an election being waged over questions of fairness and equality.

In Nashville a week ago, supporters of Donald J. Trump accused Republican leaders of trying to stack the state’s delegate slate with people who were anti-Trump. The Trump campaign posted the cellphone number of the state party chairman on Twitter, leading him to be inundated with calls. Several dozen people showed up at the meeting at which delegates were being named, banged on the windows and demanded to be let in.

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


TOPICS: Extended News; Government; Politics/Elections; US: New York
KEYWORDS: 2016election; election2016; jeremywpeters; newyork; newyorkcity; newyorkslimes; newyorktimes; stoppedclock; trump
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Especially relevant with what's going on in Colorado right now.
1 posted on 04/09/2016 12:28:00 PM PDT by McGruff
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To: McGruff

We are not a democracy, we are a republic. A democracy would be like two wolves and one sheep deciding on what’s for dinner. A republic would be the wolves have one vote each and the sheep two votes.


2 posted on 04/09/2016 12:30:38 PM PDT by SkyDancer ("Nobody Said I Was Perfect But Yet Here I Am")
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To: SkyDancer

“A republic would be the wolves have one vote each and the sheep two votes.”

No, a Republic would have the wolves shot dead by the sheep for infringing on the sheep’s rights.


3 posted on 04/09/2016 12:32:26 PM PDT by sagar (3 way race; cranky populist - Trump/Sanders, establishment - Hillary/Roobio, conservative - Cruz!)
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To: McGruff

So the way the Party Chiefs see it is like this:

They and a few others are “The Party”. Every now and then they get together and engineer some “candidates”. The primary voters are just expressing a preference; their vote is not really important except as a gauge...a little bit of marketing research. Who Can Win.

So once they’ve done a little testing like this they put up a candidate. And then they see if people like the brand, and buy it. If not, Oh Well...the other guy’s brand wins.

Not much changes. But anyone who believes the fiction that they are part of the Party who isn’t in the Inner Group is simply deluded.

De-register, go independent. They’ll market to you anyway.


4 posted on 04/09/2016 12:32:50 PM PDT by Regulator
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To: McGruff

The United States of America is a Republic not a Democracy.


5 posted on 04/09/2016 12:33:01 PM PDT by Roses0508
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To: McGruff
Primary Process Is Seen as in Conflict With Democracy...by Morons!
6 posted on 04/09/2016 12:37:31 PM PDT by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: sagar

In a democracy it’s one person one vote.


7 posted on 04/09/2016 12:37:43 PM PDT by SkyDancer ("Nobody Said I Was Perfect But Yet Here I Am")
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To: Roses0508

Full Definition of democracy

plural de·moc·ra·cies

  1. 1 a :  government by the people; especially :  rule of the majority b :  a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections

  2. 2 :  a political unit that has a democratic government


8 posted on 04/09/2016 12:42:22 PM PDT by McGruff (The Republican elite would rather see Hillary Clinton president than Donald Trump.)
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To: SkyDancer

We are not a democracy, we are a republic.


The subject is the anti-democratic machinations of the primary process, not the knee-jerk cliche that “we are a republic.” And we’re not even a republic. The US is a nation-state wherein the central government has unlimited powers. If you doubt this, read Justice Thomas’s rebuttal to Gonzales v Raisch.


9 posted on 04/09/2016 12:44:18 PM PDT by sparklite2 ( "The white man is the Jew of Liberal Fascism." -Jonah Goldberg)
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To: ifinnegan

The New York Times thinks real democracy is that their Editorial Board gets to pick the winner.


10 posted on 04/09/2016 12:45:22 PM PDT by rbg81 (Truth is stranger than fiction)
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To: SkyDancer

A pure Democracy is going to be rule of the masses.
A pure Republic is not going to have individual voting members at all, but a committee — with an executive — figuring out how to properly represent all constituents.


11 posted on 04/09/2016 12:46:14 PM PDT by sagar (3 way race; cranky populist - Trump/Sanders, establishment - Hillary/Roobio, conservative - Cruz!)
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To: Roses0508

Founded as a republic (”If you can keep it...”), but one no longer. We are a decadent nation-state. Why decadent? Only decadent governments pass legislation without reading it.


12 posted on 04/09/2016 12:46:55 PM PDT by sparklite2 ( "The white man is the Jew of Liberal Fascism." -Jonah Goldberg)
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To: rbg81

“The New York Times thinks real democracy is that their Editorial Board gets to pick the winner.”

Yep.


13 posted on 04/09/2016 12:52:22 PM PDT by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: sparklite2
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,

and to the republic for which it stands

, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

And no, the central government, i.e. the federal government does not have unlimited powers. They are limited by the Constitution; it's the people that grant certain powers to the fed's although of late they've chosen to ignore a great part of it.

If you doubt this, read the Constitution.

14 posted on 04/09/2016 12:55:18 PM PDT by SkyDancer ("Nobody Said I Was Perfect But Yet Here I Am")
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To: sagar

Voters voting for a voter that votes in their interest.


15 posted on 04/09/2016 12:56:42 PM PDT by SkyDancer ("Nobody Said I Was Perfect But Yet Here I Am")
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To: Roses0508

Quote:

“The United States of America is a Republic not a Democracy.”

And this is germane to disenfranchising voters in what way?


16 posted on 04/09/2016 12:58:00 PM PDT by TTFlyer
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To: SkyDancer

There is no “voting” in a pure Republic. The act of “voting” is a leak from Democracy. Hence, you must have heard the phrase “Democratic Republic”.


17 posted on 04/09/2016 12:58:14 PM PDT by sagar (3 way race; cranky populist - Trump/Sanders, establishment - Hillary/Roobio, conservative - Cruz!)
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To: SkyDancer

What the Constitution says, and what the government does are two entirely separate things.

” If the majority is to be taken seriously, the Federal Government may now regulate quilting bees, clothes drives, and potluck suppers throughout the 50 States. This makes a mockery of Madison’s assurance to the people of New York that the “powers delegated” to the Federal Government are “few and defined,” while those of the States are “numerous and indefinite.” The Federalist No. 45, at 313 (J. Madison).”

https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-1454.ZD1.html


18 posted on 04/09/2016 1:00:38 PM PDT by sparklite2 ( "The white man is the Jew of Liberal Fascism." -Jonah Goldberg)
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To: McGruff

Wow, so let me get this straight. All voters are equal but some voters are more equal than others. “Cause “we’re a republic.”

Some fat ass delegate’s “vote” outweighs my and my neighbor’s vote and that’s ‘cause “we’re a republic.”

The Republic of North Korea evidently.


19 posted on 04/09/2016 1:02:25 PM PDT by TTFlyer
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To: McGruff

“Full Definition of democracy”

Mob rule!


20 posted on 04/09/2016 1:03:24 PM PDT by Beagle8U
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