The Super Delegate problem and Bernie Sanders

I've been busy with Twitter lately and I've noticed quite a bit of support for Bernie Sanders on Twitter. I've added many Bernie supporters to my Twitter following list - that is, I'm following them for the news about Bernie.

I got a tip from one of my friends on Twitter about a website called Bull Moose Nation. This Bull Moose Nation models itself upon the original Bull Moose Party of 1912. That party was the party of Teddy Roosevelt, a populist who had the same goal in this country then as Bernie Sanders does now:

“To dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day”

— Bull Moose Party Platform, 1912

This is what I know of Teddy Roosevelt, a man dedicated to preserving our natural resources, cutting the ties of private control from government and serving the public interest. The irony is that he was a Republican then.

Let me give you an idea of how much things have changed. While Roosevelt would have fought to preserve the national parks, the Republican clowns in Congress have passed a bill to make it easier for energy companies that burn coal to dump coal ash directly into water sources. They want to return the regulation of the coal energy companies back to the states, as if that would make things better. Somehow, I have my doubts.

Bull Moose Nation has brought to light a very interesting and compelling problem: getting the Super Delegates in the Democrat Party to support Bernie Sanders (I would use the term "Democratic Party", but Super Delegates are anything but democratic). Much like the Electoral College, the Democrat Party has Super Delegates that can vote for whomever they please rather than who the people want. This is all explained very nicely in this Bull Moose Nation video and in their website at this location. 

The summary is this:

In the 2016 primary 747 of the 5,083 total delegates are superdelegates.  What this means is that in a worst case scenario where Bernie Sanders cannot get any of the superdelegate votes he will need almost 59% of primary voters to vote for him.

And they explain the problem with an observation from the past election with Hilary Clinton in the fray:

The irony is that no one knows about this problem better than Hillary Clinton.  When she ran against President Obama in 2008 she won the popular vote counting the ballots in Michigan - it was the superdelegates who ended up making the decision. She was unable, however, to secure the needed superdelegate votes and lost the nomination as a result. The Bernie Sanders campaign is vulnerable to falling into a similar trap since the majority of Democratic Party leaders having been falling in behind Hillary Clinton. If we as a public truly believe that Bernie Sanders is the man who will best represent us, the first step that we need to take is making sure that he gets the nomination.

The solution? Double Down for Bernie! Bull Moose Nation estimates that we will need at least 8 million additional primary voters nationwide to ensure that Bernie is nominated. If we're going to elect Bernie, we will need to gather our forces and bring them to bear against an enormous establishment opposed to such a possibility. That means getting people registered to vote and getting them to the polls for the primaries. Bernie needs to win in the primaries to get a shot at the nomination at the Democrat Convention next year.

I know, it seems daunting, but somehow, this country managed to elect a black man with a Muslim sounding name, apparently against the odds. 

We need to also remember that the right of nomination has already been stolen from us by the 1%. The 1% believe they are exercising the right of nomination with Hilary. Through a grass roots effort, we can call up the votes we need to restore the right of nomination back to us, the people. This is just (a big) part of what we need to do to get Bernie elected as President. Together, we can make it happen.