American Political Parties

The very first course I taught at San Jose State was “Political Parties and Elections.”  I have been involved in party reform, was a plaintiff in a party renewal case that reached the U.S. Supreme Court, and have been active in party politics since before I could vote to as recently as this past Saturday morning on Lehigh Avenue in Palmerton.  In other words, I am a damn expert on American political parties.  Before you read further, you should get paper and a pencil so you can take notes.

This will take some time.  Along the way, I will discuss why we should have closed primaries, why Superdelegates are a good idea, why pre-primary and pre-convention endorsements are a bad idea, why Bernie Sanders delegates have a right to be angry, why Hillary Clinton delegates have a right to be angry with Bernie Sanders, and why people who think there is no difference between the Republican and Democratic parties are either stupid or willfully ignorant.

I just realized, this might take two posts.  Or three.

The usual way to look at the Democratic and Republican parties is to think of them in segments.  First, there is a party organization.  (I will discuss party-in-the-government and party-in-the-electorate later.)  In Carbon County, party organization would include the precinct committeemen and women, the members of the County Executive Board, the County Chair and other officers, and the various local Club members.

Why are people active in the party organization?  They don’t get paid, don’t get hired for government jobs, are often asked to donate to party coffers, and receive very little gratitude.  When they go to retirement homes to register voters, when they staff booths at the County Fair, when they work the polls, they are doing those jobs because they think they can make a difference.  

Both Democrats and Republicans also have state party organizations, made up of delegates elected from local parties, and a national organization, which is usually starved for funds.  Fat cats like to donate to candidates, not parties.  The candidates are a better investment. 

Party organizations often get into trouble when they endorse candidates before primaries.  Well into the 20th century, party organizations actually picked the party candidates, but now it’s usually done through primaries.  (Note:  there are states that still pick candidates by state conventions, but Pennsylvania is not one of them.)  

This past election the organization in Pennsylvania spent millions pushing McGinty over Sestak, including paying for really dirty ads.  While McGinty won her primary, this was money that might have been better spent against Toomey, and it irritated Sestak supporters, who right now seem to be sitting on their hands.

Now we learn in an email leak that the national Democratic organization belittled the Sanders campaign and was hardly neutral, just as many Sanders supporters always assumed.  

As our Carbon County Democratic Chair has pointed out, endorsing or supporting candidates before the primary or convention generally does not help the endorsed candidate and irritates the followers of the non-endorsed candidates.  So Bernie supporters (and Sestak supporters) have a legitimate reason to be angry.

Tomorrow:  The Party-in-the-Government, and why Hillary supporters have a legitimate beef against Sanders.