When it comes to future elections, Donald Trump seems blind to them as he continues to litigate his electoral victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016. And while Democrats are definitely into strategizing their \u201cwave victories\u201d for 2018 and 2020, they seem to once again be in a fog when it comes to reforming our electoral system.<\/p>\n
Currently we are at the halfway point between our quadrennial fixation with the state of Iowa. Can you remember who won the Iowa caucuses two years ago and who is likely to win two years hence? It would seem to be an appropriate time to reflect upon how absurd it is for a state with less than one percent of the nation\u2019s population to have such disjointed significance in determining who America\u2019s choices will be when it comes to selecting our presidential nominees.<\/p>\n
In case you forgot, after Iowa comes New Hampshire, with less than half the population of Iowa. But like Iowa, it is almost exclusively white \u2013 a far cry from the modern demographic mosaic of America. Yet presidencies are made and lost in the Granite State where a single slip-up, or tear-drop, can doom a candidate (witness Ed Muskie in 1972<\/a>).<\/p>\n There is nothing engraved in stone about the order of the states for the presidential sweepstakes. It is also not required that the Democrats and Republican follow the same schedule. The Republicans rarely make claims about promoting fairness and equity in the electoral process, and since their vision is generally in the direction of the rear-view mirror rather than ahead, they can remain comfortable with the system as it is.<\/p>\n Democrats pay lip-service to enhancing democracy. When it comes to voting rights, they do the walk as well as the talk. Thank goodness for that, and most recently Senator Doug Jones of Alabama wants to thank you.<\/p>\n But it was barely a year ago that Barack Obama and Eric Holder were talking about structural changes to our political system to make our playing field more level. Specifically, they wanted to do battle with the forces that support gerrymandering, a system of disproportionate representation in legislative districts that in recent years has strongly favored Republicans.<\/p>\n I have not heard much from either of them about that, and perhaps they are still in the \u201cthink-tank\u201d phase because the state legislatures that redraw the districts won\u2019t take office until January of 2021.<\/p>\n But it is not too early, in fact it may be too late, to address the irrational undemocratic system of primaries and caucuses that Democrats utilize select their presidential nominee. Let\u2019s just innumerate a few of the ways in which it is undemocratic:<\/p>\n There are many alternatives to the system that we have. These include:<\/p>\n\n