Tuesday, December 05, 2017

When your first name is "Democratic"




 Share Autopsy on Facebook
 Share Autopsy on Twitter

A party named “Democratic” should be.

But the Democratic Party has continued its undemocratic system of elite unelected superdelegates. More than 700 of them -- 15 percent of the total -- voted on the presidential nominee at the latest national convention. Dozens of the superdelegates were corporate lobbyists.

“I have long believed there should be no superdelegates,” Senator Tim Kaine, a former chair of the Democratic National Committee, recently wrote to current DNC chairman Tom Perez. “These positions are given undue influence in the popular nominating contest and make the process less democratic.”

The mid-November letter from Senator Kaine, who was Hillary Clinton’s running mate last year, came two weeks after the release of “AUTOPSY: The Democratic Party in Crisis.” In a section written by civil rights attorney Pia Gallegos, that report declared: “The superdelegate system, by its very nature, undermines the vital precept of one person, one vote. The voting power of all superdelegates must end."

The final meeting of the DNC’s “Unity Reform Commission” will vote on the superdelegate issue. When the gavel falls to begin that crucial session on Dec. 8, co-authors of the Autopsy will be there.

To help them fight the good fight, please:

*  Click here to go to the section of the Autopsy titled “Democracy and the Party” -- and use the icons on that webpage to share it far and wide via social media as well as via email.

*  Help co-authors of the Autopsy travel across the country and speak out in Washington, where the final Unity Reform Commission meeting will take place. Support this vital effort by clicking here. If any money is left over after covering travel and media-outreach expenses, RootsAction will pour it into our ongoing nationwide campaign to insist that the Democratic Party live up to its first name.

We can do this!

Thank you --

The RootsAction.org Team

Background:
>>  AUTOPSY: The Democratic Party in Crisis
>>  Politico: “Kaine Calls for Eliminating Superdelegates”
>>  Sunlight Foundation: “At the DNC, More Than 60 Superdelegates Are Registered Lobbyists”
>>  Jake Johnson, Common Dreams: “To Address Historic Failures, Autopsy Urges ‘Progressive Reboot’ for Democrats”
>>  Katrina vanden Heuvel, The Washington Post: “Have Democrats Learned their Lesson? There’s Reason for Hope.”
>>  William Greider, The Nation: “What Killed the Democratic Party?”
>>  Paul Rosenberg, Salon: “Rebuilding a broken party: Where do Democrats go beyond Bernie vs. Hillary?”
>>  Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet: "Criticizing the Democratic National Committee for Failing to Learn Lessons from 2016"
>>  Christopher Cook, The Progressive: “Can the Democrats Save Themselves?”

Interviews about the Autopsy:
>>  Pia Gallegos on “Between The Lines”
>>  Norman Solomon on C-SPAN “Washington Journal”
>>  Karen Bernal on The Real News
>>  Norman Solomon on “Democracy Now”
>>  Jeff Cohen on The Real News


 
Donate buttonFacebook buttonTwitter button

empowered by Salsa

No comments:

Post a Comment