Reply #16: Fifty percent plus one really does do in such a situation. It is democracy.

[rug]

The rationale you propose for the braking power of the super delegates is dubious. In a national campaign the winner will emerge only if broad support is demonstrated.

I disagree that the elected officials themselves constitute the sum of the party apparatus. Wholly unelected fundraisers and large contributors wield enormous leverage over the elected officials. It is far from running for a seat in Warwickshire and an elected official is not a wise esquire from the Midlands.

The experience and judgment of elected officials can be exrecised in more useful ways than a 40% bonus rendering the primaries an idle exercise. The present system is authoritarian, undemocratic and based on a fundamental distrust of democratic principles.