Well, we had the Democrat Caucus, and I thought this would be the
Republican side of things. But here comes a ballot with both Parties
presidential candidates listed. Only those two Parties. But while
the column for Democratics has Bernie and Hillary, the Republican side
has 4 names. It's crazy. Next we have the two Parties State
Conventions, then the National Conventions, and then the Primary
elections prior to the General Election.
And the sad thing is that people will think that with all the voting
they will have participated in the running of their government, when
actually the choices have been mostly made for them.
Carl Jarvis
On 5/6/16, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I thought that Washington already voted.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Friday, May 06, 2016 11:10 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: A Contested Convention Is Exactly What the
Democratic Party Needs
Despite the current mess the Republican Party finds itself in, both major
parties are committed to a two party system. And in supporting and working
for this two party system, they also attempt to control the party loyalists
from their central committees.
I just received my primary ballot. In Washington, we vote by mail. I do
have the option, which I use, to go to my county courthouse and vote by an
accessible machine, which reads to me as I mark my paper ballot. But on my
ballot, according to my wife, there are only two columns, Democrat and
Republican. While I am not either, I will mark my ballot for Bernie
Sanders.
Carl Jarvis
On May 6, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
much more"
Nichols writes: "What Sanders is proposing is a necessary quest - and
a realistic one. Already, he is better positioned than any recent
insurgent challenger to engage in rules and platform debates, as well
as in dialogues about everything from the vice-presidential nomination
to the character of the fall campaign."
Senator Bernie Sanders. (photo: Scott Olson/Getty)
A Contested Convention Is Exactly What the Democratic Party Needs By
John Nichols, Moyers & Company
05 May 16
Bernie Sanders will go to Philadelphia with more pledged delegates
than any insurgent in modern history. Here's what he could do with them.
Joe Biden understands something about the Democratic Party and its
future that his fellow partisans would do well to consider. "I don't
think any Democrat's ever won saying, 'We can't think that big - we
ought to really downsize here because it's not realistic,'" the vice
president told The New York Times in April. "C'mon man, this is the
Democratic Party! I'm not part of the party that says, 'Well, we can't
do it.'" Mocking Hillary Clinton's criticism of Bernie Sanders for
proposing bold reforms, Biden dismissed the politics of lowered
expectations. "I like the idea of saying, 'We can do much more,'
because we can," he declared, leading the Times to observe that, while
Biden wasn't making an endorsement, "He'll take Mr. Sanders's
aspirational approach over Mrs. Clinton's caution any day."
Unwittingly or not, Biden made an even better case than Sanders has
for taking his insurgent campaign all the way to the Democratic
convention in Philadelphia. If the party is going to run in 2016 on a "do
agenda - as opposed to triangulating around the center - the Vermontstrategic.
senator's supporters and like-minded Democrats, including Clinton's
progressive backers, will have to force the issue. Taking the Sanders
insurgency to the convention is the paramount vehicle for placing
demands that are ideological and, as Biden's comments suggest, also
That's one reason why Sanders promised in a statement on April 26 tonomination.
go to the convention with "as many delegates as possible to fight for
a progressive party platform" - despite the fact that Clinton's
delegate advantage now all but guarantees that she will win the
What Sanders is proposing is a necessary quest - and a realistic one.that can mean as much to the nation as to the party."
Already, he is better positioned than any recent insurgent challenger
to engage in rules and platform debates, as well as in dialogues about
everything from the vice-presidential nomination to the character of
the fall campaign. As veteran political analyst Rhodes Cook noted in a
survey prepared for The Atlantic, by mid-April, Sanders had exceeded
the overall vote totals and percentages of Howard Dean in 2004, Jesse
Jackson in 1988, Gary Hart in 1984 and Ted Kennedy in 1980, among
others. (While Barack Obama's 2008 challenge to Clinton began as
something of an insurgency, he eventually ran with the solid support
of key party leaders like Kennedy.) By the time the District of
Columbia votes on June 14, Sanders will have more pledged delegates
than any challenger seeking to influence a national convention and its
nominee since the party began to democratize its nominating process
following the disastrous, boss-dominated convention of 1968.
This new reality has Clinton supporters fretting about the prospect of
a chaotic convention that could expose divisions within the party when
it should be uniting for what increasing looks like a fall fight
against Donald Trump. But a muscular appearance by Sanders and his
delegates at the convention doesn't have to lead to bitterness.
Historically, contested conventions - not carefully choreographed
coronations - have led parties and their nominees to take more
audacious positions and to excite broader electoral coalitions.
"Conventions are where we come together, but you don't really come
together if you avoid differences," says the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who
has protested, attended or spoken at nearly a dozen Democratic
national conventions (and who has not endorsed a candidate in the
primary race this year). "You start by understanding that it takes two
wings to fly. If you have two strong wings - a wing that has won and a
wing that has lost - you don't deny the differences; you recognize
them. You debate, find common ground, find ways to start working
together for immediate goals - the next election - and for long-term
goals
Recent conventions have been so tightly scripted that it's easy torepresentative process"
forget that both parties have long histories of contested gatherings -
sometimes with open combat over the party's standard-bearer (as may
erupt at this year's Republican convention), but often with spirited
competition over rules, platforms and the very nature of the party
itself. Contested conventions can open policy debates and clear the
way for "significant political and social progress," argues Fitchburg
State University professor Benjamin Railton, who has analyzed the
history of conventions. With 18 state wins so far and more than 1,350
delegates, Sanders is uniquely poised to push for such progress. Since
Clinton will likely arrive at the convention with a majority of the
pledged delegates and a lead in the popular vote, she'll have every
right to argue, as she did in April, that "I am winning.
And I'm winning because of what I stand for and what I've done."
Front-runners rarely invite input from insurgent challengers, and if
Clinton chooses to wall Sanders off, she'll have the upper hand in
Philadelphia. In January, Democratic National Committee chair Debbie
Wasserman Schultz appointed a pair of Clinton allies, Connecticut
Governor Dannel Malloy and former Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin, to
head the platform committee. And an ardent Clinton supporter and noted
Sanders antagonist, former congressman Barney Frank, will cochair the
rules committee.
But Clinton's decision to adopt what was initially Sanders's position
on a host of issues, from wages to climate change to trade policy,
shows that her campaign recognizes that a substantial portion of the
party's base - as well as its potential base - is attracted to
Sanders's more aspirational message.
And the pressure to make that recognition a part of the Democratic
platform will grow as the committees expand before the convention and
Sanders aides urge the DNC to deliver on the promise made by spokesman
Luis Miranda: that the party is "committed to an open, inclusive and
for drawing up the platform, and that "both of our campaigns will beplatform fights.
represented on the drafting committee."
If Sanders advocates gain sufficient representation to provoke
debates, what are the likely pressure points? Like Jackson and his
supporters, who forced rules reforms and the diversification of the
DNC in 1988, the Sanders camp could champion a more open and
representative Democratic Party. There could be calls for reducing or
eliminating the role of superdelegates, for a better approach to
scheduling debates and for consistent primary rules to avoid dramatic
variations in turnout based on whether the primary is open or closed.
Even though Sanders ran well in caucuses, his backers could gain
credibility by also arguing that caucuses are too incoherently
organized and difficult to participate in to be justified. On all of
these issues, Sanders supporters would have to establish alliances
with Clinton backers who recognize that it is time to "democratize the
Democratic Party."
The prospect of aligning with Clinton supporters, especially
progressive members of Congress and labor activists who will attend
the convention as superdelegates, creates even greater openings for
Prospective nominees tend to favor weaker platforms; Harry Trumanmuch more"
would have preferred milder civil-rights commitments than were made in
his party's
1948
platform, and it took steady pressure from unions, liberals and Ted
Kennedy to get Jimmy Carter to finally embrace spending on jobs
programs. It will take similar pressure to get Clinton and her inner
circle to accept a Democratic platform that Sanders says must include
"a $15-an-hour minimum wage, an end to our disastrous trade policies,
a Medicare-for-all health-care system, breaking up Wall Street
financial institutions, ending fracking in our country, making public
colleges and universities tuition-free, and passing a carbon tax so we
can effectively address the planetary crisis of climate change."
Clinton stalwarts may want to keep things vague, but look for the
Sanders team to demand specifics, such as an explicit endorsement of a
national $15 minimum wage instead of the $12 proposal that Clinton
initially offered, and an unequivocal rejection of the Trans-Pacific
Partnership trade deal that President Obama supports and that Clinton
once championed but now criticizes.
As it happens, many of Clinton's most passionate allies have been
outspoken supporters of the fight for $15, fair-trade policies and
proposals to break up the big banks. One of them, Ohio Senator Sherrod
Brown, a potential vice-presidential pick, has argued publicly that
Clinton "should work with [Sanders] on the platform" in order to
strengthen the party's appeal. Other Clinton backers like Connecticut
Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and nonaligned House members like
Wisconsin's Mark Pocan could play a critical role in steering the
party toward unequivocal opposition to the TPP. There could also be
room for cooperation on addressing mass incarceration, passing
constitutional amendments to get big money out of politics and
guaranteeing voting rights for all.
Sanders backers want to win these platforms fights - not to make a
point about their campaign, but to make a deeper point about what the
Democratic Party must stand for in order to win the 2016 election and
the future. "The convention can amplify what this campaign made
visible - that there are millions of Americans who are hurting - and
say that the Democratic Party has to respond to that pain with bigger
and bolder policies," says Working Families Party national director
Dan Cantor, a veteran of the 1988 Jackson campaign who is now a
Sanders backer. "Democrats who want to win a big majority in November,
to take back the Congress and to move forward in the states, know that
the party has to stand for something that excites young people, that
excites working people. No matter who the nominee is, the party has to
take a big-vision stand."
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valid.
Senator Bernie Sanders. (photo: Scott Olson/Getty)
http://billmoyers.com/story/a-contested-convention-is-exactly-what-the
-democ
ratic-party-needs/http://billmoyers.com/story/a-contested-convention-i
s-exac
tly-what-the-democratic-party-needs/
A Contested Convention Is Exactly What the Democratic Party Needs By
John Nichols, Moyers & Company
05 May 16
Bernie Sanders will go to Philadelphia with more pledged delegates
than any insurgent in modern history. Here's what he could do with them.
oe Biden understands something about the Democratic Party and its
future that his fellow partisans would do well to consider. "I don't
think any Democrat's ever won saying, 'We can't think that big - we
ought to really downsize here because it's not realistic,'" the vice
president told The New York Times in April. "C'mon man, this is the
Democratic Party! I'm not part of the party that says, 'Well, we can't
do it.'" Mocking Hillary Clinton's criticism of Bernie Sanders for
proposing bold reforms, Biden dismissed the politics of lowered
expectations. "I like the idea of saying, 'We can do much more,'
because we can," he declared, leading the Times to observe that, while
Biden wasn't making an endorsement, "He'll take Mr. Sanders's
aspirational approach over Mrs. Clinton's caution any day."
Unwittingly or not, Biden made an even better case than Sanders has
for taking his insurgent campaign all the way to the Democratic
convention in Philadelphia. If the party is going to run in 2016 on a "do
agenda - as opposed to triangulating around the center - the Vermontstrategic.
senator's supporters and like-minded Democrats, including Clinton's
progressive backers, will have to force the issue. Taking the Sanders
insurgency to the convention is the paramount vehicle for placing
demands that are ideological and, as Biden's comments suggest, also
That's one reason why Sanders promised in a statement on April 26 tonomination.
go to the convention with "as many delegates as possible to fight for
a progressive party platform" - despite the fact that Clinton's
delegate advantage now all but guarantees that she will win the
What Sanders is proposing is a necessary quest - and a realistic one.that can mean as much to the nation as to the party."
Already, he is better positioned than any recent insurgent challenger
to engage in rules and platform debates, as well as in dialogues about
everything from the vice-presidential nomination to the character of
the fall campaign. As veteran political analyst Rhodes Cook noted in a
survey prepared for The Atlantic, by mid-April, Sanders had exceeded
the overall vote totals and percentages of Howard Dean in 2004, Jesse
Jackson in 1988, Gary Hart in 1984 and Ted Kennedy in 1980, among
others. (While Barack Obama's 2008 challenge to Clinton began as
something of an insurgency, he eventually ran with the solid support
of key party leaders like Kennedy.) By the time the District of
Columbia votes on June 14, Sanders will have more pledged delegates
than any challenger seeking to influence a national convention and its
nominee since the party began to democratize its nominating process
following the disastrous, boss-dominated convention of 1968.
This new reality has Clinton supporters fretting about the prospect of
a chaotic convention that could expose divisions within the party when
it should be uniting for what increasing looks like a fall fight
against Donald Trump. But a muscular appearance by Sanders and his
delegates at the convention doesn't have to lead to bitterness.
Historically, contested conventions - not carefully choreographed
coronations - have led parties and their nominees to take more
audacious positions and to excite broader electoral coalitions.
"Conventions are where we come together, but you don't really come
together if you avoid differences," says the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who
has protested, attended or spoken at nearly a dozen Democratic
national conventions (and who has not endorsed a candidate in the
primary race this year). "You start by understanding that it takes two
wings to fly. If you have two strong wings - a wing that has won and a
wing that has lost - you don't deny the differences; you recognize
them. You debate, find common ground, find ways to start working
together for immediate goals - the next election - and for long-term
goals
Recent conventions have been so tightly scripted that it's easy torepresentative process"
forget that both parties have long histories of contested gatherings -
sometimes with open combat over the party's standard-bearer (as may
erupt at this year's Republican convention), but often with spirited
competition over rules, platforms and the very nature of the party
itself. Contested conventions can open policy debates and clear the
way for "significant political and social progress," argues Fitchburg
State University professor Benjamin Railton, who has analyzed the
history of conventions. With 18 state wins so far and more than 1,350
delegates, Sanders is uniquely poised to push for such progress. Since
Clinton will likely arrive at the convention with a majority of the
pledged delegates and a lead in the popular vote, she'll have every
right to argue, as she did in April, that "I am winning.
And I'm winning because of what I stand for and what I've done."
Front-runners rarely invite input from insurgent challengers, and if
Clinton chooses to wall Sanders off, she'll have the upper hand in
Philadelphia. In January, Democratic National Committee chair Debbie
Wasserman Schultz appointed a pair of Clinton allies, Connecticut
Governor Dannel Malloy and former Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin, to
head the platform committee. And an ardent Clinton supporter and noted
Sanders antagonist, former congressman Barney Frank, will cochair the
rules committee.
But Clinton's decision to adopt what was initially Sanders's position
on a host of issues, from wages to climate change to trade policy,
shows that her campaign recognizes that a substantial portion of the
party's base - as well as its potential base - is attracted to
Sanders's more aspirational message.
And the pressure to make that recognition a part of the Democratic
platform will grow as the committees expand before the convention and
Sanders aides urge the DNC to deliver on the promise made by spokesman
Luis Miranda: that the party is "committed to an open, inclusive and
for drawing up the platform, and that "both of our campaigns will beplatform fights.
represented on the drafting committee."
If Sanders advocates gain sufficient representation to provoke
debates, what are the likely pressure points? Like Jackson and his
supporters, who forced rules reforms and the diversification of the
DNC in 1988, the Sanders camp could champion a more open and
representative Democratic Party. There could be calls for reducing or
eliminating the role of superdelegates, for a better approach to
scheduling debates and for consistent primary rules to avoid dramatic
variations in turnout based on whether the primary is open or closed.
Even though Sanders ran well in caucuses, his backers could gain
credibility by also arguing that caucuses are too incoherently
organized and difficult to participate in to be justified. On all of
these issues, Sanders supporters would have to establish alliances
with Clinton backers who recognize that it is time to "democratize the
Democratic Party."
The prospect of aligning with Clinton supporters, especially
progressive members of Congress and labor activists who will attend
the convention as superdelegates, creates even greater openings for
Prospective nominees tend to favor weaker platforms; Harry Truman
would have preferred milder civil-rights commitments than were made in
his party's
1948
platform, and it took steady pressure from unions, liberals and Ted
Kennedy to get Jimmy Carter to finally embrace spending on jobs
programs. It will take similar pressure to get Clinton and her inner
circle to accept a Democratic platform that Sanders says must include
"a $15-an-hour minimum wage, an end to our disastrous trade policies,
a Medicare-for-all health-care system, breaking up Wall Street
financial institutions, ending fracking in our country, making public
colleges and universities tuition-free, and passing a carbon tax so we
can effectively address the planetary crisis of climate change."
Clinton stalwarts may want to keep things vague, but look for the
Sanders team to demand specifics, such as an explicit endorsement of a
national $15 minimum wage instead of the $12 proposal that Clinton
initially offered, and an unequivocal rejection of the Trans-Pacific
Partnership trade deal that President Obama supports and that Clinton
once championed but now criticizes.
As it happens, many of Clinton's most passionate allies have been
outspoken supporters of the fight for $15, fair-trade policies and
proposals to break up the big banks. One of them, Ohio Senator Sherrod
Brown, a potential vice-presidential pick, has argued publicly that
Clinton "should work with [Sanders] on the platform" in order to
strengthen the party's appeal. Other Clinton backers like Connecticut
Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and nonaligned House members like
Wisconsin's Mark Pocan could play a critical role in steering the
party toward unequivocal opposition to the TPP. There could also be
room for cooperation on addressing mass incarceration, passing
constitutional amendments to get big money out of politics and
guaranteeing voting rights for all.
Sanders backers want to win these platforms fights - not to make a
point about their campaign, but to make a deeper point about what the
Democratic Party must stand for in order to win the 2016 election and
the future. "The convention can amplify what this campaign made
visible - that there are millions of Americans who are hurting - and
say that the Democratic Party has to respond to that pain with bigger
and bolder policies," says Working Families Party national director
Dan Cantor, a veteran of the 1988 Jackson campaign who is now a
Sanders backer. "Democrats who want to win a big majority in November,
to take back the Congress and to move forward in the states, know that
the party has to stand for something that excites young people, that
excites working people. No matter who the nominee is, the party has to
take a big-vision stand."
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http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
