We, the People

Superdelegates: So, you want democracy?
Voters: Yes, we think we’re entitled to democracy.
Superdelegates: You can't HANDLE democracy!

The above paraphrasing of the 1992 movie A Few Good Men, is the situation Democrats could face going into their convention in Denver in late summer. Superdelegates are that 20 percent (members of Congress, governors and other high-ranking party officials) who hold the balance of power to decide which candidate becomes their party’s standard-bearer if it comes down to a brokered convention.

Some superdelegates, early on envisioning a slam dunk by Hillary Clinton, pledged themselves to her, and now are having buyers’ remorse. With Barack Obama now in the lead in the delegate count, and surging, some are now declaring themselves neutral until the voters have their say (which is what they should have done in the first place). But other superdelegates are essentially saying that they — not the voters — know what’s best for America... democratic processes be damned. They are vowing to stay with Clinton — no matter the will (or the vote) of the people who elected them...

While Ohio might prove to be the decisive state on March 4, it’s much more likely that the race will be so close the contenders will remain in a virtual dead heat, splitting up the delegates, and thus throwing the decision to the superdelegates to pick the nominee. How they handle this momentous decision will have enormous political consequences, in both the short and long term.

This race is proving to be exactly what America needs. It has energized young people — brought fresh, new blood into the political process — like no other presidential contest in history ... and it did it just in the nick of time. Any country — but especially a participatory democracy — where the young people opt out of or lose faith in the political processes is doomed ... it’s on the slippery slope to extinction, albeit it might take decades before the nadir is reached. Such countries are propped up only by their own hubris ... and fading memories of past greatness.

In the countries where our enemies (be they real or perceived) reside, people — even young people — sit around a table — or oftentimes outdoors just gathered around a rock — and debate, argue, and otherwise engage passionately in politics. Believe it or not, it used to be this way in America, during our formative years. But what have our young people been doing lately? Gathering around a flat screen and immersing themselves in the trivialities and banalities of MTV culture.

But a confluence of circumstance and events — the emergence of the Internet, which gave rise to blogs — combined with candidates (a woman and a Black) that excite people with tantalizing possibilities of what America can at last be, has presented us with our best opportunity yet to regenerate ourselves, engage out youth, and perhaps maintain our worldwide prominence and hegemony.

With the rise of China and India as superpowers in a global economy we are going to be facing increasing challenges on all fronts; and to meet those challenges we have to be internally strong and externally perceived as being fair.

It’s critically incumbent upon us that the selection of the Democratic candidate is carried out in the fairest, most transparent manner possible. No back room deals, no power-brokering, no subverting of the democratic process by party bosses.

Faced with a Republican opponent that probably has as much chance of winning in November as a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest, this is the Democrats election to lose ... something they have been able to do all too often in the past: Snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. But the surest way for the Dems to lose this time is for the superdelegates to “award” the nomination to a “favorite” candidate, in spite of how the party faithful have voted. They simply have no right to go against the will of the people.

If the person with the most delegates — no matter which candidate that happens to be — is not supported by the superdelegates, it will spell the end of the Democratic Party ... and perhaps the end of America as we know it. Could either Democratic candidate be so selfish, so stupid, and so arrogant that they would stand in the way of the fulfillment of this real American dream?

From Cool Cleveland contributor Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com
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