The Anti-Democratic Caucus

Progressives instituted the direct primary as a reform of party and state caucuses where the practice was for the party elite to nominate political candidates. But the primary did not catch hold in all states. Many states have caucuses and Texas just held a hybrid primary election/caucus that was truly bizarre. How can you select a meaningful number of delegates from the caucus when most voters have voted twice? Whatever happened to the democratic principle of one person, one vote? And wasn’t the secret ballot initiated to lend support to the individual who wants to buck the herd? From what I’ve read, marching to your private drummer is impossible because you can’t hear the drumbeat over the din of the crowd.

There is another aspect of democracy ignored by the caucus process. The caucus process makes no attempt to be all inclusive. What percentage of voters over 70 years old stayed home because of inclement weather in Iowa? How many swing shift voters get excluded?
Why are those voters who choose to not attend an electoral process without a secret vote discriminated against in a democracy? Bypassing a primary election like cutting back on music and art when a school district is caught in a budget crunch. So, do states continue with the caucus system because they want democracy on the cheap? Do we have to take to take it that way? A primary caucus as a substitute for a primary election denies the individual his or her right to democracy.

We will never know the number of voters in Texas who avoided certain caucuses due to the unpredictably large turnouts; favoring party activists and young voters who are more likely than some to persevere through such minor inconveniences of insufficient parking or insufficient restroom facilities.

If Americans have the right to a democracy, why is it that the electoral rules of political parties can subvert a democratic electoral process for the President of the United States with anti-democratic caucuses and winner-take all primary elections? Presumably, we citizens have been too busy to remedy such electoral abuses. That situation need not remain the case forever. If the two major parties fail to reform their primary election process, then the people may choose to require a more democratic primary process by amending the Constitution at a 2nd Constitutional Convention to assert the right to a democratic primary electoral process–.the right to power.

Posted on 10th March at 11:51 am - 1 Your Comments

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