So today is the big PA primary. I’m glad all those calls from Hilary and Bill will stop now. I only received one from Obama’s camp and it was a real person. Interesting. I took my 12 year olds with me to vote. We walked to the polling place (it is Earth day after all). I had them in the booth with me and let them each push some buttons. During our walk there and back home, I tried my best to explain the whole voting process. It was one of those things where I confused them enough, I could tell they just wanted me to shut up already. It isn’t just the kids that are confused. I wish this country’s big problems weren’t so big that somebody could take a look at the way we vote. I’m not just talking about the machines and the count, the whole damn set up. I barely touched on superdelegates. Add to the confusion the fact that each state is done differently, does anybody really understand what the hell is going on? If so, I’d like to know, in the simplest way possible. I voted for the party’s presidential candidate as well as 3-7 delegates to the national convention (vote for not more than 7 delegates, 4 males and 3 females) and one alternate delegate (not to mention state and local elections). Right now Hilary is leading Obama 54% - 46%. Reading back what I wrote, this blog barely makes sense.
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2 comments:
Super delegates exist to thwart the will of the electorate. Political parties do not wish to share too much power with the voters. Why? Just look at some of the past candidates for high office!
I just got an email from the head of the Democratic Party here in WA. He's a superdelegate, and he announced he'll be voting for Obama, which all things considered, is good (in my eyes, anyway), but it'd be a hell of a lot better if we didn't have to bother with all that bullshit.
Unfortunately, I highly doubt anyone will seriously look at changing the voting system, because in so many ways, it works in favor of those in power, and who's going to change something that serves them well? More importantly, would a whole group of people invested in that system voluntarily change it up? Probably not.
It's like the electoral college, which I think blows. A lot of people hate it, don't understand it, and so on, but you know, it kind of works for those in power. It keeps the two-party system going. If ever there was a time that a third party candidate got enough of the vote that there wasn't a clear majority for one of the other candidates, instead of an election being decided by popular vote, it'd be decided by delegates on something like the Wednesday after the second Monday in December.
Hmmmm, is that better or worse than it being decided by the supreme court? Six of one...
Our election system is totally fucked.
But when I was your girls' age, and Clinton was running against Bush Sr. I wanted to vote so bad I couldn't stand it! So I can imagine how cool it was for them to be in the booth with you!
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