What If Bernie Wins, And The Super Delegates Select Hillary Anyway?

[Bubzer]

It would never happen.... The Democratic party would NEVER go against the will of the people... right? Well, actually, they would, and did.

On March 12, 1968, McCarthy got 42% of the vote in the New Hampshire primary. Johnson, who did not actively campaign, was selected by the party at 48%. It ended up being a violent and costly mistake.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/chicago-1968-controversial-convention-article-1.315416

If the party overrides the will of the American people, that'll be akin to a renewal of the political patronage era engendered by the likes of Boss Tweed, who is famously quoted for saying: "I don't care who does the electing, so long as I get to do the nominating".

It would ignite all manner of protest against the democratic party for fixing the nomination... similar to 1968.

Oddly enough, the 1968 loss is why we have the primary system now. However, 4 years later, superdelegates were created as an effort to maintain substantial-control over who the nominee is. Why these last-vestiges of Boss-tweed-style nominee-fixing are still tolerated as part of the Democratic party is something of a mystery.

Superdelegates maintain roughly 20% of the vote.

That might not seem like much, but most votes are fairly close...
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/closerace1.html

20% is far in excess of what's needed to control how the vote goes.

So the question becomes this... Which is more important: The will of the people, or the will of the establishment?
Because at the end of the day, the first option could re-empower the party, the other, well... let's just say we cannot afford the alternative.

[jham123]

1. Whig Party

The Whig Party died at one point in our History.

[kennetha]

2. The super delegate are there for just that purpose

to give the party poo-bahs a check on the will of the people. If they would never exercise that power, there is no point in having them. I pretty seriously doubt that the "Democratic Establishment" as Sanders likes to call it is just going to stand idly by and let a self declared (democratic) socialist take the party down to defeat in an election bloodbath, if they believe that that is what will happen.

On the other hand, if Sanders does manage to win a majority of the delegates allocated through the primaries, that will give them much less reason to believe that.

But by the time they have to finally commit, many more things will be clear. For example, if Bloomberg has entered the race and looks like he would clean up against Bernie and Trump, they might dump Bernie even if he had more delegates coming in.

[jham123]

4. Now Their floating Bloomberg?

I missed that one....I heard where they were going to interject Joe Biden, but not Bloomberg

[kennetha]

7. Bloomberg would run as independent

In a three way race if he believes Sanders and Trump are likely to get nomination.

[Fumesucker]

8. Bloomberg?

Hillary already has the $200,000 + vote, that's the only one she has, running Bloomie would be suicide for her.

[Bubzer]

10. Your revisionist history doesn't match up with reality.

http://www.factcheck.org/2008/06/clinton-and-the-popular-vote/
Only by accepting Michigan's vote tallies, which completely omit Obama voters, did Hillary win the popular vote by a fraction of a percent.

So, sure, if you ignore voters, then yeah, she won the popular vote. Of course, if you're a fan of the establishment, I could see why you might support such a claim, as well as defend the use of an aristocratic mechanism to maintain control over us little people.

[morningfog]

12. If Bernie has a majority of the pledged delegates and the supers flip it for HIllary, no matter the

rationale, I will not vote for the Democratic candidate in the fall. And I would work against them in whatever way I could.

[Bubzer]

16. I also could not support a party that was working against the will of the people.

[valerief]

3. What if the super delegates refuse to vote? What if they go on strike?

What if the super delegates go on a trip and all die in a bus/train/plane accident? Are there vice super delegates?

What if the super delegates decide to flip a coin for their collective votes? Or individual votes? And they still keep the money they've been bribed with to vote for a certain candidate? Can they be sued?

What if the super delegates...

Shit, this can go on forever.

[PyaarRevolution]

5. If the Superdelegates select the nominee.

Then we will have a Republican as the next president. The party isn't stupid enough to do that.

[TBF]

6. Then they lose the general -

I don't think it will happen.

[backscatter712]

9. I would leave the party if they did that.

If a party that purports to call itself democratic decides to override democracy when it isn't convenient for their power-brokers, I would not vote for Hillary in the general.

[Dawgs]

11. If the superdelegates go against the will of the people then we will have a new third party. n/t

[UglyGreed]

13. pretty sad

that with over 50,000 more votes Bernie only received one more delegate............

[kennetha]

14. that's why democratic contest last so long and are so much fun

The repugnants cut competition down with so many winner take all contests. Would you prefer that?

[randome]

15. I think some of us confuse 'democracy' with 'political party'.

The Democratic party is not a vote-counting robot. It exists to choose the person they think best represents the party. That's how it's always been, that's how it will always be.

The same would apply if Trump wins the popular vote. I would expect the GOP -or at least some part of it- to do everything possible to remove him from the nomination.

And that's well within their rights. The same applies for us.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Everything is a satellite to some other thing.[/center][/font][hr]

[Bubzer]

17. I most definately do not agree with you.

"It (The Democratic Party) exists to choose the person they think best represents the party." This statement doesn't take into account how the system has changed over time, or how we-the-people comprise the party more than the politicians do.

Without the support of the people, the politicians have no party. The party's super delegates go against the will of the people at the peril of their career, and the viability of the party itself. That's how it's always been, that's how it will always be.