The DNC Super Delegate Fraud Echoes the Era of Jim Crow
There has been revived consternation about the Democratic Party’s Super Delegate charade. This system for selecting the Democratic presidential nominee has been an an ongoing debacle that many assert was, at its core, the proximate cause of the election of President Trump.
However, the application of the principles of desegregation from a legal case from 1966 indicates that the entire history of this nation could have, and should have, developed differently, but first a brief recitation of the contemporary events are in order.
The basic issue in the election of President Trump was that many polls had forecast that Hillary Clinton was a widely unpopular candidate and that she would probably lose the election. Meanwhile, her main competitor, Sen. Sanders, was wildly popular and polls indicated that he would have been victorious over Mr. Trump. However, Sen. Sanders is more of a populist than Hillary Clinton and was not welcomed by the big money financiers that control the Democratic Party.
Thus the Democratic Party had to arrange it so that the candidate who was preferred by the wealthy was the nominee rather than the candidate who was popular with the common people. This has been the subject of many pages, and the story is well known by now. By having a great number of super delegates, wealthy lobbyists and elected officials, declare their support well before the election during the nomination process, the corporate media and the Democratic Party created the appearance that Hillary had a solid lead before any states had actually cast their votes for the nominee.
The creation of this appearance was highly coordinated between Hillary Clinton’s campaign, the Democratic Party and the corporate media. The creation of the appearance of holding an early lead in the nomination process worked as intended and swayed just enough primary voters so that Clinton managed to narrowly secure the nomination over the arguably more popular candidate. The results were widely predicated—that the less popular candidate would manage to win the nomination but would lose the general election.
There were also multiple other methods used to tilt the results of the Democratic nomination process in favor of the wealthy corporate choice over the common peoples’ preferred candidate and a lawsuit ensued by the run of the mill voters against the wealthy power brokers. The DNC Class Action Lawsuit (http://jampac.us/dnclawsuit/) continues to this day, years after the events and rather pointless in achieving justice, as Hilary Clinton predictably lost and Donald Trump became the President of the United States, resulting in the ruler that was preferred by the wealthy corporations over the populist preferred by the common citizens.
Famously, the attorney for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) argued that the DNC was a private corporation and could choose the nominee in any manner they choose and that the nominee selection process involving voters was more or less a formality and a charade. “[A] DNC lawyer said openly that if the party wanted to do things like the old days and pick a candidate over cigars in back rooms, it would be within their legal rights to do so.” (https://medium.com/theyoungturks/dnc-we-can-legally-choose-candidate-ove...).
This is where Evans v. Newton, 382 U.S. 296 (1966) becomes relevant. Contrary to the DNC lawyer’s assertion that the DNC nominee selection process is a private matter, which only concerns the private corporation that is the DNC, commonsense and legal precedent points in the opposite direction, that the selection of a presidential nominee is a matter of public concern and should be regulated by Federal law.
In Evans v. Newton (https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/382/296/#tab-opinion-1945801) private land was “willed in trust to the Mayor and City Council of Macon, Georgia, as a park for white people, to be controlled by a white Board of Managers.” Obviously, this was quite racist, a park run by the city for whites only. When people objected to the city running a park for whites only, the City of Macon resigned as trustees of the land and appointed three private individuals so that the park could remain segregated. By releasing the park from city control the intention was to be able to claim the park was a private institution and could, therefore, be legally a segregated park.
That attempt to remain segregated was eerily similar to the DNC lawyer’s proclamation that since the DNC is a private corporation it could conduct business however the DNC pleased. And it would seem that the racists had found a loophole when they just swapped the city trustees with trustees not beholden to desegregation.
The court, however, strongly disagreed. “Where private individuals or groups exercise powers or carry on functions governmental in nature, they become agencies or instrumentalities of the State.”
Basically, the case held that because the park was thought of and treated as a public park, just shuffling the trustees did not change reality. The park was still a park and served a public function, and just putting a racist in charge rather than a city employee should not and did not change the park into a whites-only enclave.
Once the park became a park and served a public function, the management of the park must be held to public standards.
Once the DNC presidential nomination process became a presidential nomination process and served a public function, the management of the nomination process must be held to public standards.
M. Rhys
Comments
Bottom Up
This is what must happen to remedy the Corporate Capture of the Democratic Party.
At TOP, Gooserock would say this in comments ad nauseum...and he was right. The only way for us to check the runaway, unaccountable power of the DNC and super delegates is the take over our local town committees or wards. This must be a face to face affair.
It is not easy. It can be extremely unsettling and unnerving to confront your neighbor in a local meeting. Anyone who was served on a local board knows what I mean. Local, in-your-face politics can become the most brutal because you live in and among people you might disagree with. It takes a lot of courage to be a skunk at the garden party.
Here in my State of Connecticut, local DTC meeting are barely attended. This has set the stage for a go-along get-along mentality. Local conventions are rarely contested and when they are, the national party will always bigfoot the process with their hand picked candidate. I've seen that here many times since I became active in the party in the mid eighties.
So, of course the DNC is saying out loud that its their way or the highway, its their world and we're just lucky to be living in it. They've been getting away with it for decades now. The money train they've built for themselves is not going to be given up without a down and dirty fight. We can only win that fight from the local level on up.
Unfortunately,
This definitely takes courage. People shrink from conflict and then do nothing but complain. I don’t like it myself, but I meet it head on and wish others would too.
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
It's heartening
to read your essay because I'm constantly in a turmoil over why we (which must include myself) haven't taken legal action or filed criminal complaints against our government over crimes like planning to destroy most of America in a nuclear war. You make me feel grounded.
I thought the DNC was in violation of its charter by hoarding money for Clinton. The 2 crimes evidenced by the DNC emails released by Wikileaks were money laundering, by shifting funds from the Her or the Hillary for America campaigns, and voter suppression, by entering into agreements with state officials during the primaries to close polling places in order to disadvantage Sanders voters. Those are serious crimes.
So they can call themselves a private corporation or a private club if they want to, but even within the laws they are working under, they are criminals. And they know it. I received something like 5 emails a day from each of the DNC and the DCCC during the entire 2016 campaign year. They weren't writing to say hello. Each and every one of those emails was a solicitation for funds. I have a friend who received snail mail and phone calls instead, almost daily from the DNC, every one of which was a request for a money contribution. Every one of these solicitations was a fraud because the funds they were raising were not used for the purpose published in their literature and regulated by their charter. The Democratic Party shouldn't be allowed to operate in any of our states. It is an admitted criminal organization.
Thanks for the comment
Thanks for the comment and I just pitched an article to The Intercept:
I seriously doubt they will respond, but if they do I would appreciate the assistance of members like you here at C99 to fill in details like you mention in your comment.
I will be
watching for it. Wherever you publish, please let us know. The American people need to know there is legal recourse. We can't just be paralyzed by hopelessness or by the audacity of the lawless clowns who have taken over our government.
This is what they are doing to curtail freedom of speech.
If FB, Twitter and all the rest are privately owned and censor, nevermind if at the behest of the politicians, then it isn't censorship. The whole political structure needs to be burned to the ground. It reeks of rotting flesh.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Of course, the Dem lawyers will argue
that their nice little private political party is completely non-racist and thus not covered under the 1964 Civil Rights Act. My guess is that whatever the judges decide depends upon whomever they've read. There's way too much law.
“When there's no fight over programme, the election becomes a casting exercise. Trump's win is the unstoppable consequence of this situation.” - Jean-Luc Melanchon
Private Island Mentality
i.e. Tom Paine Agrarian Justice. They act as if they CAN live on an island unto themselves, political and otherwise.
I do not expect any remedy or justice to be forthcoming this or any other court. Courts have become the ultimate backstop for the Oligarchs and Plutocrats. All we will get, and it is not unsubstantial, is discovery. The discovery process in the DNC suit is priceless as it forced the DNC drop their fig leaf. It will also force the court to find some technical ruling that favors the status quo. In doing so, everyday Americans see the complete corporate capture of our judicial system in fine detail.
Forcing them into these ever farcical Pyrrhic victories is all we can hope for for now.
Sometimes the SC
gets it right:
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/02/supreme-court-rules-against-...
dfarrah
I like your citation of Evans v. Newton.
IANAL, so I don't know if that's a precedent that'll hold in any attempt to take on the DNC (remember, judges are political, too), but the meager amount of time we have before the planet goes poof would argue in favor of bringing all guns to bear in the task of getting the impediments to survival out of the way.
The superdelegate system is, of course, nothing short of licensed corruption, and I think it needs to be portrayed that way in any conversation that touches upon that system -- in private or in more public venues. "But it's only a way to reward our hardworking activists of the party," they'll say (and have said over and over). Yeah, well, good soldiers are also rewarded in the Mob, but is anyone saying that makes organized crime any more respectable or legal?
There is a host of precedent possibilities to raise, in court and in public discourse (the court of public opinion, as some call it), and every one of those precedents should be cited. As I say, the courts are no less political (or corrupted) than any other part of the government, so it may make no difference except in helping the voters withdraw their support, their enabling of the corruption.
And at the local level, there needs to be a lot more community-building outside the political framework that is demonstrably insupportable.
I like your words
I like your words, like "Bringing all guns to bear ..." and "The superdelegate system is, of course, nothing short of licensed corruption ..."
I'm a thief in the night, so ya' know I'm stealing those shiny words
thanks for the comment
By all means, steal whatever works.
What do I mean when I say "licensed corruption?" An organization that purports to be dedicated to representing Americans is, with the mere existence of superdelegates, advancing the proposition that some Americans are more deserving of having their goals represented than most.
All DNC superdelegates are equal to other delegates
Although, to quote from Animal Farm, "some delegates are more equal than others".
The DNC should, but won't, establish either proportional voting by delegates. Their abused charter goes against the concept of "one person, one vote". Maybe senators would get 12 votes, representatives get eight votes and you, dear caucus delegate, get .07% of a vote.
Because Congress
allowed the $Trillion funding of modernization of nuclear weapons in order to make them more useable, and because nuclear war assures our destruction, I believe we are are at the point of saying again what was said in 1776:
Just FYI for everybody ...
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C-span livestream - https://t.co/gKnz1ZYlTS
Wikileaks dump on super delegates
From:luzzatto@aol.com To: re47@hillaryclinton.com, john.podesta@gmail.com, mmarshall@hillaryclinton.com
Date: 2016-03-20 12:00 Subject: Sanders-related advice from Mark Siegel
Sharing as a favor and cause of his role in the Dems' delegate system. Sent from my iPhone Begin forwarded message: > From: Mark Siegel > Date: March 20, 2016 at 9:18:34 AM EDT > To: Tamera Luzzatto
> Tamera, I've tried to get this > ( below) to Robbie but I'm not sure he's seen it. Is it possible for you to get this to him or someone else in Brooklyn dealing with the convention? It might be useful.
Thanks/love. Mark
>> I've lived through many national conventions and have found that it's critical that all delegates, especially those representing losing candidates, emerge from the convention feeling that they have won something, achieved something tangible. I think this is terribly important especially with people like Bernie's sometimes self-righteous ideologues. We want them to go home happy and enthusiastic in working their asses off for Hillary. Hillary has already smoothly pivoted to incorporate some important elements of Bernie's ideas and rhetoric into her own message. Thus I don't think the 2016 Platform is a sufficiently tangible prize for the Bernie wing of the convention. I think they have to be given something that they can claim as a singular success. I think I know something that would painlessly work.
>> As you probably know I was the guy who drafted the "super delegate" provisions of the party's delegate selection rules. It was an outgrowth of the McGovern 1972 convention where very few of our elected officials were delegates. After the debacle, the "regulars," the Party establishment, wanted a big chunk of guaranteed representation at future conventions ( as much as 25%) The liberal wing was firmly opposed to this, saying it was undemocratic. Through the Mikulski, Winograd and Hunt Commissions I worked out a compromise giving ex- officio delegate status to Democratic members of the House and Senate, Democratic Governors and big- city Mayors. That would have totaled about 10% of the convention, what I thought was a reasonable compromise.
>> The liberals were ok with it but the Democratic State Chairmen's Association wanted to add party officials to this new class of ex-officio delegates. When the new delegate selection rules were voted on by the DNC, it is not shocking that the DNC ADDED THEMSELVES as automatic delegates. That drove the percentage up to over 15%. It has crept up even a bit higher now. >> ( wouldn't the republicans like to have that now!)
>> So here's my idea. Bernie and his people have been bitching about super delegates and the huge percentage that have come out for Hillary. Since the original idea was to bring our elected officials to the convention ex-officio >> ( because of the offices and the constituencies they represent), why not throw Bernie a bone and reduce the super delegates in the future to the original draft of members of the House and Senate, governors and big city mayors, eliminating the DNC members who are not State chairs or vice-Chairs. (Frankly, DNC members don't really represent constituencies anyway. I should know. I served on the DNC first as Executive Director and then as an elected member for 10 years.)
So if we "give" Bernie this in the Convention's rules committee, his people will think they've "won" something from the Party Establishment. And it functionally doesn't make any difference anyway. They win. We don't lose. Everyone is happy. >> Anyway, I don't know if Robbie is focusing on the convention at this point but the Bernie people have a lot of passion and we should try to keep them marginally on board. Just saying...
>> Thanks. Mark
Throw them a bone to keep em from bitching.... then go back to business as usual.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
And they Still
couldn't throw even That bone to 'em.
Someone said it above-Burn that mutha DOWN.
Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .
Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .
If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march
"keep them marginally on board" just saying
The tone of this message pretty much sums up how the DNC folks felt about Bernie's supporters doesn't it?
And this: gotta keep them happy so they won't bail to third parties and will work and vote for Herheinous. The second tier voting is being setup by the number of people who are running. This is pretty obvious to many people.
There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?
Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.
Superdelagates suck
The superdelegate creation in the late 1980's I think it was, remains one of the most un-democratic things the party ever did. It must be completely undone, they should be banished to the dustbin of history. As it is, at the very least there must be rule changes that include that the superdelegates must be required to vote the will of the people. In any case, a superdelegate should never be allowed to declare any support for any candidate. The current situation allowed the Dembots to delude themselves into thinking they could win with a loser. It allowed AP to prematurely announce Hillary won before everyone on a super Tuesday was done voting out west. Notice how much that has been talked about?
edit: added missing "to"
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
dems.gov
Add this to the evidence pile: If the Democrats are truly just a private club without a public function, how did they rate a .gov web address?
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
thanks ;) n/t
Private club - Publicly funded
Not only a ".gov" address, but what are we doing paying taxes - which fund public elections - just so this little private club can skew election results?
Bingo!
This is a question I have been asking about our election system.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
dot gov web address
1) ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is notoriously lax on such matters; and
2) The address belongs to Dem Congresscritters, who are inherently entitled to dot gov web addresses by ICANN's published standards.
gop.gov belongs to the corresponding Rethug group.
In both cases, my review is:
.
.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
If I understood rightly
The Superdelegates, in the first ballot, had to vote with the results of their individual State primary elections -just like regular delegates. They would not be able to vote their pocket books until, if and when, a second ballot was called in the convention.
While Superdelegates should not exist at all, doesn't this effectively neuter their influence going into the convention?
Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!
Firesign Theater
Stop the War!
I think the goal of the oligarcy is to have so many nominees ...
that nobody reaches 50% on the first ballot.
The Superdelegates, in the first ballot, don't vote whatsoever, is what I gather, so they obviously aren't tied to the results of their individual State primary elections. Yet the corporate media is already adding them up and announcing who has the lead, at this point, before any normal citizen has cast a "vote" in the Democratic primary nomination process. So they still serve the purpose of shading the voters' perceptions before any "votes" are cast.
(That's a tangential issue of mine, those shouldn't be called votes at all because it's not an election, it is a private club selection process, but it should be re-aligned to be an actual election with actual votes under the FEC [Federal Election Commission] and do away with all the private club corporate hanky panky, since the selection serves a legitimate government function. It's like all your water comes through lead pipes for miles and miles, but we are really proud that the last two feet before it comes out of the faucet is shiny stainless steel. No, the selection process is obviously toxic before it even falls under FEC supervision.)
https://www.npr.org/2018/08/25/641725402/dnc-set-to-reduce-role-of-super...
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/08/democrats-strip-power-from-superd...
My point in this article was that the rules shouldn't be made up willy-nilly and the rules shouldn't be subject to the choices among the members of a private corporation, or a private club, but should be subject to all Federal statutes, including RICO, Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, Title VII, Title IX, etc. etc. If that were the case, there would be actual convictions, with people doing hard time, after the DNC Fraud lawsuit.
I think you wrote
"willy-nilly" and a Democratic rules analysis in the same article?
Gee Willikers...
Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!
Firesign Theater
Stop the War!
Your comment is absolutely correct, Mr. Wolf
The goal is to bypass the muting of superdelegates by assuring that no one wins on the first ballot.
I think I'll wait
until Donna Brazile and George Stephanopoulos explain this to me. It is the POWER ROUNDTABLE after all...
Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!
Firesign Theater
Stop the War!
and the there's this (just a bit off topic)
aka Epsilon Theory
https://www.epsilontheory.com/discovery-map-december-31-2018/
things like...
Want to see how we connect the ideas of individual sovereignty, big data, political polarization and missionary behaviors in media?
Hit that
website and read a few posts to get a cursory feel for the joint-seems like a Market based solution type site to funnel disaffected investors Back into the Game of capitalism.
Shitheads making Bank telling me I hadn't seen what I've seen over the past forty plus years. They may as well be a division of the uni-Party in that regard.
Trust Them and Not my own lying eyes?
Fuck THAT shit. I may be a dumbass, but I Can learn-and that site is playing people.
imo, of course.
Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .
Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .
If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march