Post by RGirtman on Mar 30, 2020 12:33:38 GMT -6
A little under a week ago, there was a heated discussion on Discord regarding how Party Leadership, Convention Delegates, & Presidential Nominations should be set up.
On one side, direct democracy was advocated, in which all party members participate in & vote on every party decision. Their argument is that direct democracy ensures every voice counts & acts as a barrier to corruption and the "Superdelegate" problem.
The other side argues for proportional representation at conventions via delegates selected by state parties. The argument here is that, being proportional, the voice of the people is still represented while overcoming their argument that direct democracy becomes unwieldy and, ultimately, unsustainable because we won't need to gather the full membership of the party for every decision that needs to be administered throughout the year--decisions like: what bank should we use? Or: what URL should we establish as our official party website?
My suggestion for a compromise:
President & Vice President nomination is determined via popular vote. Top vote-getter is the Presidential nominee, second-most vote getter is VP nominee
Delegates to convention is determined, selected from candidate supporters, proportionally to Presidential votes. Delegates decide major party decisions like platform modification, leadership committee selection, etc.
The leadership committees chosen by delegates then are powered to make, collectively, the day-to-day operating business decisions of the party.
Thoughts?
On one side, direct democracy was advocated, in which all party members participate in & vote on every party decision. Their argument is that direct democracy ensures every voice counts & acts as a barrier to corruption and the "Superdelegate" problem.
The other side argues for proportional representation at conventions via delegates selected by state parties. The argument here is that, being proportional, the voice of the people is still represented while overcoming their argument that direct democracy becomes unwieldy and, ultimately, unsustainable because we won't need to gather the full membership of the party for every decision that needs to be administered throughout the year--decisions like: what bank should we use? Or: what URL should we establish as our official party website?
My suggestion for a compromise:
President & Vice President nomination is determined via popular vote. Top vote-getter is the Presidential nominee, second-most vote getter is VP nominee
Delegates to convention is determined, selected from candidate supporters, proportionally to Presidential votes. Delegates decide major party decisions like platform modification, leadership committee selection, etc.
The leadership committees chosen by delegates then are powered to make, collectively, the day-to-day operating business decisions of the party.
Thoughts?
