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Wednesday, April 2, 2008 | 9:36am
Superdelegate Jackson Lee Goes against 90% of Her Delegation and Gets Booed at Her Convention
Is it me or do politicians not understand the basic ideals of Democracy
My colleagues Dos Un and Mike ignited a very interesting conversation a few weeks ago about what exactly our troops are fighting for over in Iraq. The very short answer out of Washington is usually “Democracy.” But what exactly does that mean. I believe I payed enough attention in my 12th Grade government class at DeMatha High School to know that Democracy simply refers to the way in which we elect our political infrastructure. Wikipedia explains “Majority rule” as a major principle of democracy, though many democratic systems do not adhere to this strictly—representative democracy is more common than direct democracy. So I ask you Nation, HOW THE HELL CAN A DISTRICT VOTE 90% to elect a particular candidate (Barack Obama) for the Democratic nomination however its Stupor-Delegate decide to side with the minority?
Such is the case of longtime Houston Congresswoman, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee. She recently took the stage at Texas Southern University to speak at the Democratic Senate District delegate convention, but was met with a chorus of boos because of her outspoken support for Sen. Hillary Clinton, a support that resoundingly disagrees with the “will of the people.”
“It is always tough to go into the face of adversity,†Jackson-Lee says in the KHOU video. “What would I be if I went back on my word to an individual that I’ve worked with for more than a decade and sat down and talked to me about her vision for America?â€
One delegate at the convention as you’ll see tells KHOU “For her to stand out against the wishes of her district and be a Clinton supporter, I guess pissed off our delegation.â€
Its amazing how we can be so adamant about our governmental structure as a country enough to IMPOSE it upon the will of others. However we can’t even seem to understand it ourselves. I’ll break it down for you dumb politicians out there…(someone tell Bush when he wakes up)
1) The people elect the politicians
2) The Politicians listen to the people
3) The Politicians represent the people and the people’s will
When something goes wrong…we elect someone else. My advice to you Rep. Jackson-Lee is to update your resume. You’re going to need it.
FILED IN Editorials, Need to Know, News
The super-delegate thing is really tricky. A super delegate is perfectly allowed to vote for whomever they want. However as a representative of a certain group of people (as in the case of Senators and Governors that are also superdelegates) you are still expected to be a voice for the people. I feel bad for Ms. Lee. Her mistake was voting for Clinton, it was agreeing to do it in the first place.
In the end it may not benefit ANYONE! Clinton could loose making her support moot and Jackson could loose her seat for being defiant to her overwhelming majority.
The superdelegate and electorial vote goes against democracy all together. The delegates goes against democracy, endorsing goes against democracy and yet we fight a war to enforce democracy. As S. said earlier we are enforcing a idea we do not understand ourselves. Then again we as the people do not understand the power that we have. We elect a president then sit back and let them do whatever, we need to hold them accountable for their actions, choices, and mistakes.
how?
Because if democracy is done by the people, for the people then why a straight vote by the people is all we need. When you allow a selected group to decide what happens (although they should go with the majority, they don’t have to) then you are taking the power out of the peoples hands and giving it to a few. That’s what super delegates do, that’s what the electoral college does, that’s what delegates do. I understand why they are there, but when it comes down to it, it is pretty unfair.
That was the idea behind the ancient Roman government with the senate. However, our government enacts too many policies for every issue to be brought before the people for a popular vote. We elect officials who we have CONFIDENCE in that will represent our views and opinions. That’s why I wrote this post. She’s going against the wishes of her constituency.
Super Deligates, and the college electoral are not chosen by the people though. I’m saying that everthing we vote on should be a straight vote, all of these other things put into place to allow all states to get attention from politicians as they campaign should be done a little different. When you allow this other stuff come into play and it DOES go against the people, it makes democracy look bad.