Will The Democratic Party Ever Be Democratic?

With the great number of candidates vying for the role of Democratic presidential candidate in the primary, it seems that the Democratic PartyTM is doing what it can to give each of them a voice, but unfortunately, it doesn’t do enough to give the people a voice. After selecting Hillary Podham Clinton as their candidate in 2016, Democratic PartyTM chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz said that the group was a private corporation and could select whomever its wanted. Regardless of what citizens who have identified themselves as Democrats have wanted, the Democratic PartyTM has always been ready to eschew democracy in favor of privatized rule.

Many already realize that if the establishment wants Joe Biden to be the Democratic presidential candidate, that is the way that it will be. Following the supposed logic of playing it safe, recent polls show that Joe Biden is indeed the favored front-runner. Using a system based on the republican ideology of winner-take-all competitiveness, it stands to reason that people would seek out the best bet for winning the White House. However, if the system were more collaborative, would people respond the same?

While it has gotten some attention over the last few years, and has even been successfully used in federal elections in Maine, as well as elections in San Francisco, Santa Fe, and Minneapolis, the concept of using ranked-choice voting for Democratic presidential primaries has not been suitably entertained. However, as our understanding of democracy grows, it may very well be that this procedure could be the answer we have been looking for.

As a quick recap, ranked-choice voting allows citizens to select more than one candidate. Should their first selection not get enough support from the populace, their second choice candidate would receive their support, unless that candidate also failed to get enough support from the voting populace. In that case, their third choice would get their support.

In the current Democratic presidential primary, while many Americans may wish to see an outsider like Marianne Williamson or Andrew Yang take on the outsider currently inhabiting the Oval Office, because they are only given one choice, many will be inclined to select the safest choice. Given Joe Biden’s history in the Oval Office, he seems to be the safest bet, regardless of whether or not he is actually a good representative of the people. While many might appreciate the more progressive plans offered by Bernie…