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In response to
"Looks like it's private to friends. -- nm"
by
spamlet
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C/p -- (edited)
Posted by
znufrii, dad. (aka znufrii)
Jun 20 '16, 05:54
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"Content warning: Politics
My apologies for not posting more than the occasional forwarded news item or attempted witty comment reply. I may post something on why that is later.
But for the moment, what's on my mind is reflection of what happened yesterday at the Washington Democratic Convention. I've been processing my experience, and upon further contemplation, a few of things are really troubling to me.
There were some definite high points. I met some absolutely amazing people and had several conversations of the kind that are insightful, deep, and respectful. I got a small amendment to the state party platform passed. There was an excellent speech by Jeff Merkley (Senator from Oregon). I got to chat more with Erin Jones (candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction) and Tina Podlodowski (candidate for Secretary of State).
All that said, I left the convention with a slight feeling of dread and quite a lot of frustration.
I've been a Sanders supporter for quite a while now, pretty much since the second or so debate. At all of these conventions and caucuses, I've been an official representative for Sanders. And now, I'm fairly glad to be done with any official representation of Sanders. There were many, many, many amazing supporters of both Sanders and Clinton there this weekend. But enough of the Sanders supporters decided to defy any kind of logic and act so disrespectfully that I began to feel ashamed by association.
The most aggregious case relates to the selection of presidential electors. Please bear with me, because this will take a moment.
At this convention, we elected two people (one male, one female) to serve as the two "senatorial" electors in December. Each congressional caucus elected one, and the state gets two additional ones. In December, these electors congregate at the state capitol and actually sign the little boxes that get sent to Washington DC to officially elect the president.
This task is expected to be pro forma. If the Republican candidate gets chosen by a given state, the electors picked by the Republican party in that state get sent to the capitol and are expected to cast votes for the Republican nominee, and similarly if the Democratic candidate wins the state. The realistic expectation is that the role of elector, while an honor, is entirely symbolic.
So when a bunch of Sanders supporters began to run for these positions hinting (or even downright promising) that they will vote for Bernie Sanders as an elector even though Sec. Clinton has essentially won the primary, I get a bit frustrated. For all this time, Sanders supporters have claimed that we have been cheated, that we have been given unfair treatment by the party and the media. There is some evidence of that, though I would put the blame nearly entirely on media complacency. But to claim anti-democratic processes and then promise to do something patently more anti-democratic is absurd. To assert that you will violate the process and expectations of the voters, and then to get cheered by the audience when making that assertion, is hypocritical and disappointing. It turns out that it is technically legal to do this, barring a 1000 dollar fine from the party, but that does not make it ethically correct.
That was just the tip of the iceberg. Early on, there was a rules change made from the floor to enable the body to make an official endorsement, something that the original proposed rules explicitly prohibited. Such a rules change is totally legal. But the effectiveness of making such an endorsement is kind of questionable. Sanders already won the vast majority of delegates from the state. An endorsement carries absolutely no binding effect. Instead, we as a convention spent something like a total of two hours between debating the rules change and actually proposing the endorsement. The actual vote on the endorsement met with heavy applause from the crowd.
My problem with this endorsement is its ineffectiveness. What, exactly, will it do? How will it help? This endorsement was viewed heavily by the crowd as a victory. What did we win, other than the alienation of more Clinton supporters, who rightfully felt disenfranchised by the whole endeavor?
According to several of the people I talked to, the point of the endorsement was to try to convince more superdelegates to switch their vote. At this point, all of the primaries have been done, and Clinton is leading in pledged delegates. These are, of course, the same superdelegates that Sanders supporters have consistently claimed are anti-democratic, so an appeal to them at this point is logically and ethically dubious.
Also, it became completely clear to me that Sanders supporters had never actually spoken to Clinton supporters. I kept hearing strawman arguments, claiming that all Clinton supporters are dispassionate and only voting for her because she's the best bet in November. So, I actually would find a Clinton supporter and bring them into the conversation when that would happen. And we would talk. And it would, unsurprisingly, demonstrate plenty of passion for Clinton's candidacy.
At the end of the day, I think success needs to be measured in how much we have made people's lives better. Process victories can be important, but only in the service of making a tangible difference later. What happened yesterday wasn't about making progress. It was about venting frustration. It was about trying to claim victory instead of fighting for ideas. It was about enthusiasm over effectiveness. It was about Bernie Sanders the person over Bernie Sanders the idea. It was a profound lack of sympathy, acting with a mob mentality while expecting to be treated with respect once in the minority in the national convention. It was demanding to be heard but unwilling to listen. It was hardly everyone, but it was enough to dominate the convention.
I sincerely hope that, when the time comes, we are finally able to channel all of this passion constructively. That did not happen at the convention. We wasted an opportunity. And we will be the worse for it.
So what to do now? I'm going to up my volunteer hours to the local organization and the Secretary of State race. I'm going to be talking a lot with my local legislators. I'm going to get better read on parliamentary procedure. I'm going to learn more about what efforts are underway. I'm going to study with people who I know have figured out how to make progress on legislative issues.
I'm going to do what I can to turn my enthusiasm into effectiveness."
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