But we know that South Carolina is absolutely going to go red in November, no matter who is running, meaning that every democratic voter's opinion about who should be the Democratic president is utterly meaningless ...
No Democrat in South Carolina at tonight's debate, or voting in Saturday's primary, will have dick to say about the next President of the United States ... so who gives a rat's ass who the fuck South Carolinians pick in the primary? This week of discourse and babblejazz is a waste of goddamn air ... and I guess I just thought someone should say it out loud. The candidates aren't going to, the news isn't going to and the internet seems dense as lead on the subject.
I get how the system works and why, historically, it was built this way. What I don't get is why people are incapable of viewing the inanity of it intelligently.
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The candidate that South Carolinians pick will run in other states besides South Carolina, so you're wrong to assert that "No Democrat in South Carolina...will have dick to say about the next President of the United States." They will influence nominee selection.
ReplyDeleteThe places that won't matter are states like South Dakota and Montana that hold primaries in June. Those two are likely to vote GOP, and by June the Democratic nominee will most likely be known.
Then again, the US Virgin Islands caucuses on June 6. The Democratic nominee will likely be known by then, and since US territories don't have any electoral votes they truly don't matter (but there will likely not be a debate there).
"They will influence nominee selection." Sure, theoretically; but there's no reason why anyone should listen, since the Dems have to win the votes of states that might conceivably vote Democratic, and there's no reason to think that those states are in any way like the state of South Carolina.
ReplyDeleteIt's all just background noise. Muzak to fill the silent void until November's general election.
ReplyDelete"What I don't get is why people are incapable of viewing the inanity of it intelligently."
ReplyDeleteAfter the 1960s (or thereabouts, depending on local specifics) Civics education was removed from USian public schools and replaced by the attenuated courses labeled "Social Studies." I came up in the aftermath of those changes and see its effects in my peers' (lack of) understanding of the governmental system we live under. It's refreshing to read that someone (though, not surprisingly, someone from another country) gets how it works, AND to your confusion: most citizens of the USA *don't* get it.
They don't understand what the function of the Electoral College is, or how bills are crafted and passed, or how the social services they depend on are related to taxation. They do not understand that our nation was not designed with a balance of powers, but rather with a *competition* of powers, wherein each branch if government must jealously and vigorously defend the power of their branch. Most USians cannot, when pressed, even explain the difference between a direct democracy and a republic. So, yeah, it's easy to advertise them into believing that the debate "matters."
Of course, there are are other factors too, though I think the removal of critically-minded, informative education is the largest one.
I think what makes South Carolina interesting is it is a mostly black electorate for Democrats, so it will show which candidates do well (and poorly) among black voters.
ReplyDeleteOf course, this assumes black voters are a monolith, and black voters in South Carolina are similar to black voters in other states.