Party over Policy

[Belsnickel]

(06-11-2018, 12:33 PM)bfine32 Wrote: I don't think it is inane to complain about how the National Committees operate. I think it would be beneficial it they were more exposed to be the self-serving entity they are.

Too many people say I'm a Republican or I'm a Democrat so I've got to vote for the candidate. It would be great if folks could see those candidates are no more viable that someone running on a smaller platform.

This past election cycle showed the worst of both National Committees and I think it was too quickly swept under the rug. The RNC did all it could to prevent a candidate from getting the nod while the DNC did all it could to ensure one person got the nod.

The problem is that the parties are private organizations and can operate, essentially, how they please. There is no recourse that we, the citizens, have against this. They make their own rules, they are not subject to governmental oversight, and the can be as undemocratic as they please in their operation. I think the issue is that too many citizens don't know this and so assume that the parties have to have some semblance of democratic principle in their operation. Far from it.

The only way to change this would be through legislation, which isn't going to happen. It could be attacked through the route of campaign finance reform, changing the way elections are held in the states, or other ways I'm probably not thinking of off the top of my head. But the legislators aren't going to do this without the public demanding it, and the majority of the public doesn't actually understand how our political parties operate and that there are different models. If there isn't enough of a public demand, nothing will happen, and there won't be any demand because people don't know. If they don't know after over a century of this sort of thing, then I don't know how we are going to change this.