Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Does Trump speak for you?

A voter’s view doesn’t really matter

“The main thing is that we never let some short-fingered vulgarian bluster his way into power. Agreed?”
“The main thing is that we never let some short-fingered vulgarian bluster his way into power. Agreed?”

Post Title: Do the Political Parties Actually Represent Their Rank and File?

Post Date: March 2, 2016

I am amazed at how desperately the Republican party is trying to repress its leading candidate. It’s not that I am a registered Republican. I’m not. Nor am I a registered Democrat. But lately, I’ve been questioning my belief in the two-party system, wondering whether the political parties actually repress their constituencies rather than truly represent them.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Keep in mind that our constitutional founders opposed political parties, naively believing that Congress would be a place for the free exchange of ideas, leading to agreement. The Founding Fathers sought agreement through consensus, while the political parties want to win and prevail over the other political party.

Sadly, a voter’s view on the issues of the day doesn’t really matter in the end, as the candidate she or he votes for must obey the party leadership in voting on issues. The voter naturally wants to see his or her view prevail, or at least be represented, and perhaps that underlies the revolt against the Republican party as seen in the support for candidate Trump.

Some would say that America is (and should be) ruled by its “uniformly educated class.” This view is confirmed by the Republican establishment’s criticism that Trump is mostly attracting the uneducated, as if the uneducated shouldn’t be allowed to vote. This vitriolic criticism of Trump shows that the establishment is afraid that it will lose power if Trump wins the nomination. And it should be, for the vote for Trump is basically a vote against the establishment and the establishment’s candidates.

The establishment even quotes the Founding Fathers’ mistrust of democracy — the need to curb “excessive” democracy — in support of its opposition to Trump. Keep in mind that the Founding Fathers were the elite of the day. There was much talk in the Constitutional Convention of the masses being dupes of pretended patriots, and of their being misled by false reports from designing men. The very same rhetoric is now leveled against the candidate of the rank-and-file, namely Trump. The elite are effectively saying that only they can be true patriots, be non-designing, and refrain from issuing false reports. It is little wonder why the rank-and-file will no longer put up with this, now that they have a leader. Trump speaks for them, so they gladly overlook it when he sometimes goes overboard.

True, the Founding Fathers’ decision to split the balance of power between two houses, a president, and a Supreme Court did serve us well. But once the political parties started to dominate everything — attempting to control both houses, the presidency, and the Supreme Court (the court through the appointment process and the required consent of the Senate), our government literally became dysfunctional. It’s been dysfunctional ever since. What’s changing is that the rank-and-file of both parties are beginning to recognize and react to this.

The Republican establishment calls Trump a demagogue and goes back to the Greek definition: a political leader appealing to popular desires and the prejudices of the masses. But what is really wrong about that? Equating the masses with the rank-and-file of the party leads me to think that taking their desires and prejudices into account is not only proper, but required under our Constitution.

As it happens, the Democratic party is even clearer in showing it wants to control its rank-and-file Democrats. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) can rightfully be equated to the Democratic establishment, and the DNC has imposed a rule that allows it to overturn the rank-and-file vote for a particular Democrat candidate. It gave itself the right to appoint a sufficient number of “superdelegates” to its national convention that are beholden to vote as the DNC wants. If the candidate chosen by the rank-and-file is acceptable to the DNC, the superdelegates are not instructed to vote for any particular candidate. If the rank-and-file candidate is not acceptable to the DNC, the superdelegates are instructed to vote for a specific candidate, who will have enough votes with the superdelegate votes to get the Democrat nomination.

Whether the DNC actually exercises its self-granted power to select the candidate is beside the point. The point here is that the establishments, Democrat or Republican, are just in the game to perpetuate themselves in a very undemocratic way.

There is no place in America for any of this. [Post edited for length]

Title: Insights on the News | Author: Walter Lamp | From: San Diego | Blogging since: January 2016

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Tijuana sewage infects air in South Bay

By September, Imperial Beach’s beach closure broke 1000 consecutive days
“The main thing is that we never let some short-fingered vulgarian bluster his way into power. Agreed?”
“The main thing is that we never let some short-fingered vulgarian bluster his way into power. Agreed?”

Post Title: Do the Political Parties Actually Represent Their Rank and File?

Post Date: March 2, 2016

I am amazed at how desperately the Republican party is trying to repress its leading candidate. It’s not that I am a registered Republican. I’m not. Nor am I a registered Democrat. But lately, I’ve been questioning my belief in the two-party system, wondering whether the political parties actually repress their constituencies rather than truly represent them.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Keep in mind that our constitutional founders opposed political parties, naively believing that Congress would be a place for the free exchange of ideas, leading to agreement. The Founding Fathers sought agreement through consensus, while the political parties want to win and prevail over the other political party.

Sadly, a voter’s view on the issues of the day doesn’t really matter in the end, as the candidate she or he votes for must obey the party leadership in voting on issues. The voter naturally wants to see his or her view prevail, or at least be represented, and perhaps that underlies the revolt against the Republican party as seen in the support for candidate Trump.

Some would say that America is (and should be) ruled by its “uniformly educated class.” This view is confirmed by the Republican establishment’s criticism that Trump is mostly attracting the uneducated, as if the uneducated shouldn’t be allowed to vote. This vitriolic criticism of Trump shows that the establishment is afraid that it will lose power if Trump wins the nomination. And it should be, for the vote for Trump is basically a vote against the establishment and the establishment’s candidates.

The establishment even quotes the Founding Fathers’ mistrust of democracy — the need to curb “excessive” democracy — in support of its opposition to Trump. Keep in mind that the Founding Fathers were the elite of the day. There was much talk in the Constitutional Convention of the masses being dupes of pretended patriots, and of their being misled by false reports from designing men. The very same rhetoric is now leveled against the candidate of the rank-and-file, namely Trump. The elite are effectively saying that only they can be true patriots, be non-designing, and refrain from issuing false reports. It is little wonder why the rank-and-file will no longer put up with this, now that they have a leader. Trump speaks for them, so they gladly overlook it when he sometimes goes overboard.

True, the Founding Fathers’ decision to split the balance of power between two houses, a president, and a Supreme Court did serve us well. But once the political parties started to dominate everything — attempting to control both houses, the presidency, and the Supreme Court (the court through the appointment process and the required consent of the Senate), our government literally became dysfunctional. It’s been dysfunctional ever since. What’s changing is that the rank-and-file of both parties are beginning to recognize and react to this.

The Republican establishment calls Trump a demagogue and goes back to the Greek definition: a political leader appealing to popular desires and the prejudices of the masses. But what is really wrong about that? Equating the masses with the rank-and-file of the party leads me to think that taking their desires and prejudices into account is not only proper, but required under our Constitution.

As it happens, the Democratic party is even clearer in showing it wants to control its rank-and-file Democrats. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) can rightfully be equated to the Democratic establishment, and the DNC has imposed a rule that allows it to overturn the rank-and-file vote for a particular Democrat candidate. It gave itself the right to appoint a sufficient number of “superdelegates” to its national convention that are beholden to vote as the DNC wants. If the candidate chosen by the rank-and-file is acceptable to the DNC, the superdelegates are not instructed to vote for any particular candidate. If the rank-and-file candidate is not acceptable to the DNC, the superdelegates are instructed to vote for a specific candidate, who will have enough votes with the superdelegate votes to get the Democrat nomination.

Whether the DNC actually exercises its self-granted power to select the candidate is beside the point. The point here is that the establishments, Democrat or Republican, are just in the game to perpetuate themselves in a very undemocratic way.

There is no place in America for any of this. [Post edited for length]

Title: Insights on the News | Author: Walter Lamp | From: San Diego | Blogging since: January 2016

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Jazz guitarist Alex Ciavarelli pays tribute to pianist Oscar Peterson

“I had to extract the elements that spoke to me and realize them on my instrument”
Next Article

Temperature inversions bring smoggy weather, "ankle biters" still biting

Near-new moon will lead to a dark Halloween
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader