General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: we need a democratic tea part movement [View all]ehrnst
(32,640 posts)One purpose of National Committees of political parties is that they create the fundraising and organizational infrastructure that supports candidates, and keep it in place so it doesn't need to be rebuilt every four years. That doesn't seem to be common knowledge, unfortunately.
In return, candidates are expected to abide by the party platform, and put back into the party some funding and resources like email lists. But as we have seen, there are those who flout protocol and expectations for their political benefit.
It's not "corrupt" to assume that the candidates who have put time and energy into the party be the beneficiaries of that readymade electoral infrastructure and fundraising efforts. It's logical.
No one can just wake up one day and decide to run for president and acheive it without the support of a major party - you would have to reinvent the wheel that the major parties already in place.
To spit in the face of a party, as you have your hand out to them for the all of the machinery and money needed to run for office, is certainly easier than doing the work yourself, or putting one's hand out to a smaller, less capable party organization.
I find it amazing that the Democratic party allows long time career politicians who have never registered as a Democrat to step right up and get in line for the benefits of years of work and fundraising.
The fact that they have not made it a rule that one needs to have been a Democrat for a certain number of years, and showing a support for the platform, to qualify for all the Democratic money, resources and infrastructure necessary to run for office is amazing to me. And to be expected to risk a nomination on someone who has not been transparent with their financials is something that has been unprecedented in decades from either party.
I think that having run for office as a Democrat, to show that they will abide by the platform should be made a rule before the 2020 race, along with requiring the release of ones financials for at least the previous 10 years.
We certainly don't want our own version of the current POTUS running on a Democratic presidential ticket.