Bring the muthafuckin' caucus*

[boztopia]

For those who don't know, today is the Iowa caucus, which will begin the process of deciding who our next President is going to be. If you need a primer as to what a caucus is and how it works, I recommend this AP article and this MyDD series outlining the process in gory detail.

Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake has some early predictions as to who

Comments

[secret_stuff]

I find it interesting that according to the AP article you link, the Republicans actually run their system in a much more fair manner.

You're not wrong

[boztopia]

The Iowa caucus system is horribly broken and disenfranchising, especially on the Democratic side. It cuts out whole classes of people who can't take off work to be there and removes the sacred trust of anonymity.

It's bad enough that our tax dollars go to millions in subsidies for Iowa just to placate the caucus come election time, but the system itself caters to an even narrower class of voter.

Re: You're not wrong

[secret_stuff]

I will say something in their defense, and something that is really misrepresented in the media:

The Democratic Party (and all Parties) are PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS that are NOT part of the US Government. They have NO responsibilities to the American Electorate or People as a whole. That would be the Government's job.

How the Iowa Democratic Party chooses to assign delegates is no different from how the local Loyal Order of Buffalos decides how they elect a Grand Poobah.

We tend to equate the working of these Private Organizations with the Government. And we give them way too much power in the process. That is what needs to stop.

The Party Machines need to be crushed. They are the modern era Antitrust. They have monopoly in the marketplace of ideas that is strangling the free exchange of thought. Just like a Ma Bell or US Steel or whatever, they need to be broken up under some kind of Antitrust legislation.

Absolutely

[boztopia]

There is a definite chokehold on the reins of actual infrastructure and voter enfranchisement on both sides of the fence. Both parties use the machine advantages to cut off real dissent and funnel money and resources to the chosen candidates.

On the Dem side, this favors "insiders" who work within the machine and benefit from the patronage system, cutting out Internet-based activists and real progressive upstarts. On the Repub side, it involves using the resources of the evangelical fundie movement as an arm of the party for vote-getting and fundraising, then tossing them aside when the election is through.

That's why you've seen the rise of guys like Huckabee on the GOP side, and Edwards on the Dem side. These are people who are connecting directly with voters and expressing populist sentiments that are not addressed by the machines of either party.

Re: Absolutely

[secret_stuff]

Right, and the media is completely obfuscating this process. I bet there are actually people who believe they are voting for a presidential candidate

Right again

[boztopia]

The complicity of the media can't be understated here. The conglomerates send out their favored sons to craft "narratives" designed to frame the election in terms easy to understand, leaving out the cogent details and reducing it all to horse races and contests of personalities.

When something happens to disrupt said narrative, the media lapdogs either do all they can to bury the disruption, or recast the narrative to fit the current state of affairs, ensuring they were always right. And the parties just play along.