06-11-2018, 12:21 PM
Both the DNC and RNC exist to win elections, not enact public policy. Our political parties in this country are not like those in other WEIRD nations, where they are coalitions of similar minded politicos that rally around a common core of principles. Our parties are giant umbrellas that overlap each other in a significant way and have no actual structure within our government. The caucuses in Congress are more informal than most people realize and MCs aren't beholden to the party in any way other than by helping to raise money.
Honestly, I was pretty ticked off about Sanders and his situation during the last cycle. Even though from a policy view I agree with him more than Clinton, it bothered me that he was doing what he was doing to the Democratic party without being an actual member. Yeah yeah, he caucuses with the Dems in the Senate, but THE reason you are a party member is for the infrastructure for elections that they offer. You give to that infrastructure by fundraising for them, and they help with staffing, logistics, and pooling of resources. Sanders came into the primaries as a party outsider, trying to take advantage of that infrastructure.
Party over policy is just how our political parties exist in modern times. I don't like it, but that's the reality. Complaining about the parties behaving the way they have been for a century or more is inane.
Honestly, I was pretty ticked off about Sanders and his situation during the last cycle. Even though from a policy view I agree with him more than Clinton, it bothered me that he was doing what he was doing to the Democratic party without being an actual member. Yeah yeah, he caucuses with the Dems in the Senate, but THE reason you are a party member is for the infrastructure for elections that they offer. You give to that infrastructure by fundraising for them, and they help with staffing, logistics, and pooling of resources. Sanders came into the primaries as a party outsider, trying to take advantage of that infrastructure.
Party over policy is just how our political parties exist in modern times. I don't like it, but that's the reality. Complaining about the parties behaving the way they have been for a century or more is inane.
"A great democracy has got to be progressive, or it will soon cease to be either great or a democracy..." - TR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
