2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Tonight I witnessed a shameful display of voter supression in Minnesota. [View all]BainsBane
(53,031 posts)You complained about ballot boxes being stuffed. I did not "lie." You repeated your complaints twice.
I pointed out the inevitable results of what you complained about. That is not a lie. It is pointing to an obvious contradiction in your argument. You were angry at long lines, yet you complained about inadequate verification, when the result would have been to further lengthen the lines and make casting presidential preferences more difficult. You are the one who is not seriously thinking about the implications of what you have argued. Rather than engaging with that, you have chosen to make personal insults against me, which do nothing to counter any of my points. They only reveal your refusal to think seriously about what you are arguing.
You can say you aren't arguing against participation, but when you complain about procedures designed to encourage greater participation, that undermines your argument. Moreover, you chose to promote the idea of the caucuses being illicit, somehow rigged, which undermines confidence in the process and with it voter participation. You do so without bothering to even check on what the DFL rules even are.
You also declined to involve yourself in the caucus proceedings or participate in making any reforms that you believed would have improved the process. If you had stayed to introduce a resolution insisting on verification of registration, other Sanders supporters would have likely explained to you that the impact of such a demand would have been to diminish voter participation. If you had stayed, you could have watched the vote count yourself, with your own eyes, since they do it in full view of anyone standing nearby. I happened to be sitting at the table where they were counting the votes, until I moved since as a Clinton supporter I found it so damn depressing.
You seem to think the caucuses were part of some nefarious plot to deny Sanders his rightful place as president. You ignore the fact that the caucus is run by members of your community, of your own precinct. If your precinct favored Sanders, the conveners, vote counters, and others participating were likely Bernie supporters. If you had actually participated in the caucus proceedings, you would have had the opportunity to vote for the people who carried out those functions. If your precinct was like mine, you would have seen their Bernie buttons. Yet rather than participating in any of that process, you chose to leave and then contribute to an ongoing false narrative that the party and the nation is engaged in a plot to deny Sanders supporters their right to control the election, even as they refuse to any of the work necessary to make that happen.
The party is not an organization that exists to serve you. It is comprised of people in your community willing to put in the work to necessary to run those local precinct caucuses. Next time, rather than complaining that they didn't do what you think they should, try participating. Pitch in and help make it more like you would like it to be. The best place to make your voice heard and start to change things is at your local precinct caucus. You turned your back on that opportunity Tuesday night, but you will have another chance in two years. It is up to you to decide if you care enough to bother.