2020 Democratic Primary

[Katheryne Helendale]

That makes 3 forum spots this has been noted so far. We really must like this news!

Sorry, I'm playing catch-up in the forums, and that news just broke.

 

[Free]

Sorry, I'm playing catch-up in the forums, and that news just broke.

No need to be sorry. It's definitely news worth repeating.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Sorry, I'm playing catch-up in the forums, and that news just broke.

And did we not see it coming? Did Steve not see?

 

[Free]

 

[Eunoli]

 

[danielravennest]

That makes 3 forum spots this has been noted so far. We really must like this news!

Politics is a matter of compromise and incremental change. Compromise because nobody has identical opinions. Incremental because replacing a toxic candidate with a less bad one (I have no knowledge of King's replacement) is a tiny step in the right direction.

Per the primary results I updated above, the people have clearly spoken per Biden vs Sanders. Biden has nearly twice as many delegates, and is only a few shy of being the official candidate. But collecting nearly 1/3 of the delegates shows a significant number of people want to move in a more progressive direction. So the party and Biden should move that way. Biden's recent statements indicate such a move, but I haven't seen what the party platform will include. Presumably more progressive candidates will win congressional and local elections, increasing their influence.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Politics is a matter of compromise and incremental change. Compromise because nobody has identical opinions. Incremental because replacing a toxic candidate with a less bad one (I have no knowledge of King's replacement) is a tiny step in the right direction.

Per the primary results I updated above, the people have clearly spoken per Biden vs Sanders. Biden has nearly twice as many delegates, and is only a few shy of being the official candidate. But collecting nearly 1/3 of the delegates shows a significant number of people want to move in a more progressive direction. So the party and Biden should move that way. Biden's recent statements indicate such a move, but I haven't seen what the party platform will include. Presumably more progressive candidates will win congressional and local elections, increasing their influence.

How does the Democratic Party's policy-making procedure work?

The Labour Party in the UK has quite a byzantine policy-making procedure and committee structure that tries to ensure all the stakeholders have a say in drawing up policy, but (to oversimplify massively) the best way for most people to influence Labour Party policy is by joining their local Labour Party and/or affiliated Trade Union if appropriate, attending meetings to vote on resolutions, and by getting themselves elected to various local, regional, and national committees.

We also generally tend to choose our leader, if we need a new one, well before the elections -- Keir Starmer, who took over from Jeremy Corbyn in April, has four years and a bit from now until the next election to work with his new team, developing policy while holding the government to account, and putting forward alternative policies for public consideration.

In the UK, it seems crazy for the opposition party to be involved in selecting a leader, and in heated policy debates, less than six months before the election, but I can see that your system is so different from our parliamentary democracy with a ceremonial Head of State and the executive Head of Government who is ultimately accountable to parliament that different methods are necessary.

 

[Sredni Eel]

Just an FYI: You can register to vote by mail permanently in Alameda county, and possibly other California counties. It would behoove all of us to register to vote by mail, regardless.

I have checked a number of areas across the country, including DC, and some of them also have permanent vote by mail status.

Also FYI, just because you're registered to vote by mail permanently, doesn't mean you *have* to vote by mail. I was still able to vote in person for the 2016 Presidential election. It just took a little longer because they had to invalidate the ballot I got in the mail so I couldn't vote twice.

 

[danielravennest]

How does the Democratic Party's policy-making procedure work?

The Labour Party in the UK has quite a byzantine policy-making procedure and committee structure that tries to ensure all the stakeholders have a say in drawing up policy, but (to oversimplify massively) the best way for most people to influence Labour Party policy is by joining their local Labour Party and/or affiliated Trade Union if appropriate, attending meetings to vote on resolutions, and by getting themselves elected to various local, regional, and national committees.

I'll speak as a member of my local county Democratic Party. County parties elect delegates to the state (Georgia) party convention. In turn, the state convention elects delegates to the national party convention. At both levels, delegates participate in writing the party platform. The platform is a manifesto of what the party wants to accomplish going forward. Individual candidates are not bound by the platform, they may differ in some respects. But if they differ too much, they may not get political and financial support from the party.

Both Georgia and nationally we hold primary elections. The Georgia primary will select the party candidates for partisan offices - delegates have no say. If nobody gets over 50% of the votes, a runoff will be held among the top two. Whoever wins the primary then goes against the republican candidate on Nov 3rd. Other states may differ in how they select candidates.

The Georgia delegates to the national convention, along with each of the other states and districts, are assigned to presidential candidates proportionally to primary votes with two provisos: a candidate has to actually qualify to be on the primary ballot, and candidates who get less than 15% of the votes are considered "non-viable" and get no delegates. If you accumulate more than half of the delegates before the convention, as Biden nearly has, you win the nomination on the first voting round. If not, the "superdelegates" get to participate in later rounds. These include current congressional and statewide elected officials, plus state and national party officials, and a few past office-holders (president, Vice-president, congressional leaders). Superdelegates account for 15% of the total.

Again, Biden, assuming he becomes the nominee, is not bound by the party platform. However, by virtue of having the majority of delegates participating in writing the platform, it will be very close to his personal policies.

 

[Free]

Bros, there's still a reason to be in this fight.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I wasn't sure where to put this thread but I decided here because it seems to me to suggest why Senator Biden's Sanders' preferred strategy of concentrating on economic rather than inequality misses the point, because it leaves unaddressed the clear role played structural racial inequality plays.

It's all very well saying he wants to improve things for everyone on low incomes, but that's going to go badly wrong if it's not accompanied by measures to remedy the fact that a disproportionate number of people on low incomes are black or hispanic (or women, or disabled, or some combination of these factors).


www.ft.com/content/6b3e23cc-645d-49c5-a63d-040de86b3d75

African-American economic gap remains despite US expansion | Financial Times

Latest on US inequality George Floyd and the story of the Two Americas The wealthy should welcome an opportunity to reduce inequality Precarity, not inequality is what ails the 99% Trump demands Harva...

www.evernote.com

 

[Salome]

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

I wasn't sure where to put this thread but I decided here because it seems to me to suggest why Senator Biden's preferred strategy of concentrating on economic rather than inequality misses the point, because it leaves unaddressed the clear role played structural racial inequality plays.

It's all very well saying he wants to improve things for everyone on low incomes, but that's going to go badly wrong if it's not accompanied by measures to remedy the fact that a disproportionate number of people on low incomes are black or hispanic (or women, or disabled, or some combination of these factors).


www.ft.com/content/6b3e23cc-645d-49c5-a63d-040de86b3d75

African-American economic gap remains despite US expansion | Financial Times

Latest on US inequality George Floyd and the story of the Two Americas The wealthy should welcome an opportunity to reduce inequality Precarity, not inequality is what ails the 99% Trump demands Harva...

www.evernote.com

The first few items on his platform according to his webpage, is racial inequality. Now, it might have changed, since the last time I looked was when Warren dropped out, but I'm not sure where they are getting this focus on economic inequality, unless its conflating Biden and Sanders [which is one of the reasons why Biden has done so well compared to Sanders].

 

[Innula Zenovka]

The first few items on his platform according to his webpage, is racial inequality. Now, it might have changed, since the last time I looked was when Warren dropped out, but I'm not sure where they are getting this focus on economic inequality, unless its conflating Biden and Sanders [which is one of the reasons why Biden has done so well compared to Sanders].

Akk ... I typed "Biden" when I meant "Sanders". Now fixed.

 

[Eunoli]

 

[Cristalle]

Akk ... I typed "Biden" when I meant "Sanders". Now fixed.

You mean Biden, who couldn't cite a single policy to Charlamagne tha God for a black agenda? Who didn't know the name of his own racial justice plan and told Charlamagne to look at his "manifesto" ? Who lied about the NAACP endorsing him? Who has said a long litany of racially insensitive at best things just this primary alone? Biden is in this position because Clyburn pushed him in South Carolina and the media jizzed over the win. That's it.

Giving credit where credit is due, there are good things in the Lift Every Voice plan whose name he could not remember and couldn't cite a single policy. But it's just a scratch at actually closing the wealth gap. Tax credits will not do it. It will take reparations to meaningfully close the wealth gap, but he's not going there.

ETA: neither did Sanders, or anyone other than Marianne Williamson. But reparations was a convenient cudgel with which to hammer the "Sanders is racially inept" narrative.

 

[danielravennest]

Bros, there's still a reason to be in this fight.

Sanders already has 26% of the total delegates. Habiba can't math. Total delegates = 3979, Sanders has 1035 according to CNN.

 

[NyteWytch]

Math isn't the biggest problem for Sanders faithful, reality probably is.

 

[Salome]

 

[Free]

2004. lol.