Yes, The Real The New Awesome Primary Thread

Ahh yes this is the strategy of the holding position. Give them hope but not too much. Tell them what they want to hear. Tell them that they DO have democracy - just not today. Their chance will come tomorrow and as we all know; tomorrow never comes. By the time November has arrived - they will have thought up a new scam to ensure that the people never get what they want. Great strategy which has been working a treat I must say.

I live in the UK. We have a completely different system to yours. Perhaps you think that I shouldn't stick my nose into American affairs?

Not at all. Feel free but also learn.In the US there are 7 states where you cannot run as a write in candidate and in 35 other states a write in candidate must file papers to be eligible. The US has 50 states and each state can determine local voting requirements as long as those requirements do not conflict with Federal rules. Things like voting hours and polling locations are determined at even lower levels, often at the city or county level.As a UK Citizen this US election should be of truly great importance and will very possibly determine many facets of life in the UK in the future.Edited by jar, : fix sub-title

Well this is the first American election that I have ever shown any interest in. And this is the first time that I have ever learnt about your voting system. I must confess I am utterly shocked and dumbfounded. In the UK, although I can't say for certain, our system is pretty much rigged. From what I have learnt - your system is too. I just consider your 2-party system to be like our 2-party system and I never consider other possibilities because the probability of another outcome is so remote. It seems odd that you have different laws in different states when it comes to voting for your president. It's like a recipe for manipulation, fraud and dishonesty.

It's a concept called democracy Al, where local folk get to decide locally how they want to proceed.But wait, there's more.In the US there is not a two party system. In fact there are quite a few US political parties, with the Republicans and the Democrats being the largest. There are five fairly large parties including a Libertarian, a Green and a Constitution party. There is even the Communist Party USA and has been since 1919 as well as about thirty other currently active parties.There are also regional parties, often limited to just one state.

to be clear, nobody is voting for president yet, that will come in November. Right now the parties are holding their own competitions to pick who will be their presidential candidate in November. The primaries are analogous to a party leadership conference in a parliamentary system.

So let me get this right; the local people of Colorado decided for themselves, that they are too dumb to vote. They thought that they should just hand their votes over to people with higher IQs (after all they are just cattle). The higher IQ delegates therefore make the decisions for their cattle, as you would expect with any good farmer. Remarkable system. And bravo to the citizens of Colorado who recognized their shortcomings.You see I am fully aware of a rigged system when I see one - having been brought up in one all my life. I naturally understand all the nuances and deceptive tricks that they play. Ohh and this bears no resemblance to selecting a party leader like in the UK. Here, the Conservatives select the Labour party leader by quickly joining the party, choosing a leader, and then terminating their memberships.

So poetic.I would pay money to watch Mitch McConnel get punched in the nose hard enough to be knocked down. That video would go viral as a screen saver.

Please tell us what system they should use. After all they surely wouldn't want to upset you.

That is just the Republicans.

Again, not even close.Another chance to learn it seems.Here is the Colorado Republican primary process.On Tuesday March 1st Republican met in Precinct Caucuses to choose delegates to the county and district assemblies.Between March 1st and March 26th those delegates vote to elect delegates to the Congressional District and State Conventions.Between April 2 and April 7th the District conventions held caucuses to select delegates to the State Convention.April 9th the state convention was held and they chose 13 of the 37 delegates that will go to the Republican National convention where the actual Republican Candidate will be selected.This process was set up last year in August when the Colorado Republican Executive Committee voted to cancel the traditional Presidential preference Poll at the Precinct Caucuses. In particular the decisions was made that National Convention delegates will not be bound to any candidate.So yes, the process actually was the process that the Republicans of Colorado selected to determine their input at the Republican National Convention. If it is a rigged process it was not rigged to promote any particular candidate since there were no candidates in August of last year and in fact was rigged so that no possible candidate would get all the votes.Even after giving the votes to Cruz the Colorado delegates are still unbound and free to support any candidate at the National Republican Convention.Far from being rigged the Colorado process assures that rigging at the state or local level is impossible. Edited by jar, : fix sub-title

If you recall, the UK used to have a 2-party system, then it was a 3-party system, then it became a two-party system (not including all of the minor parties). Note that the last two parties are not the same as the first two. So the probability of change is actually quite significant.It has been said that in Canada we have a one-and-a-half-party system: the Liberals are the dominant party but every twenty years or so we elect the Conservatives just to keep the Liberals in line.

Ahhh so an executive committee made a decision without the consultation of the Republican party members. That would explain the Youtube videos of Republicans in Colorado burning their membership papers.

Well, that just shows the utter ignorance of those Republicans. First, to film something and post it on YouTube is one sign of ignorance but for a party member to not know the policies they set up is perhaps even greater ignorance.But burning membership papers is really stupid since that does not do anything. Even if they burn membership papers they are still registered as Republicans.

They is who? The Illuminati? The Masons? The Girl Scouts? The Reptilians of which your Queen is one?You’re funny, Big_Al.You see where groups to which you belong or have an affinity lose out to others but when your group wins one (at the expense of others), well, that’s just expected, the way it should be. When you lose out you can see this monolithic conspiracy at work to deprive you of the advantages you seek.What you do not recognize is there are thousands of disparate groups all clawing and biting to get whatever advantage they can without care for what others get left behind. One group tries to set its rules to give itself maximum impact in the society and another sets its rules in an attempt to thwart the first. Writ large, the rules of the society, its laws (in this country, our Constitution) seek to keep the excesses these groups would go to in check. No one is completely happy since they never get all that they wanted.No, the people will seldom get what they want because the people are a seething cauldron of competing and opposing interests. Plus, too many of them are too fucking stupid to know what they want until someone tells them what they want.There are plenty of things wrong with this society that need fixing. Institutionalized racism, the powers of the mega-corporate interests, the obscene wealth of the moneyed elite, and the list goes on. But at the end of the day I and you and everyone here can associate, act in concert, speak our political minds, run for office, support and vote for those of like philosophy, oppose those with whom we disagree, all without fear of the government throwing us in jail.I can bitch to my heart’s content because, in the long term, my rights are preserved. Which means this republic and what little democracy you actually care to acknowledge within it works.Edited by AZPaul3, : titleEdited by AZPaul3, : No reason given.