The use of super delegates in the democratic primaries..

[samrock]

As I understand it the use of them started after 1972, when McGovern lost in such a large landslide.. The idea was to help the party from being swept off the "liberal left".. So do we now think that was a bogus problem?? and we should just not worry about that and if we end up in a northern McGovern type of election we just shrug.. say the american people are sheep and do not know what they are doing and live with the results, or is the idea of allowing democratic elected officials have some sway..

I must say I HATE the argument that we should not elect professional politicians as they are bought, corrupt.. etc etc.. Soo you want amateur doctors to operate on you??.. Junior mechanics work on your car?? We need good professional politicians who know how to get laws passed we want in office.. I think the upper 1% love dealing with amateurs it makes their task so much easier...

[still_one]

1. Wrong, it was to decrease the chance for a brokered convention period

That some were not even aware of something that has been in place for over forty years is amazing

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. Scratching my head.

Who has said that corruption is a matter of 'professional' vs 'amateur'? Your first-termer politician can be every bit as corrupt as one that's spent many years in office.

As I understand it the use of them started after 1972, when McGovern lost in such a large landslide.. The idea was to help the party from being swept off the "liberal left".. So do we now think that was a bogus problem??

If that was the case, it was a bogus, undemocratic solution to the wrong problem. The problem was that a candidate lost in a landslide. The 'solution' was to blame one ideological wing of the party for the loss, rather than the candidate that lost.

We've had a number of other losing candidates since then, and we've never arranged new undemocratic ways to prevent the supporters of THOSE candidates from choosing more loser candidates.

[HooptieWagon]

3. The superdelegates were put in place to protect the establishment.

In some situations that could be good...say if a big anti-choice or racist movement was to arise in the party, the superdelegates could squash it. In this case however, Sanders proposals are liberal but not extreme. They are very much in line with Democratic philosophy from 1930-1990...a period in which a great deal of social and economic progress was achieved. The establishment's panic is from the risk of having their corporate cash flow cut off and power reduced.

[Capt. Obvious]

4. .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superdelegate#History