Your next 2020 Democratic presidential primary thread: Now we're serious

you can charge a waivable $12

clearly the existing democratic party, which I believe can accept unlimited donations for party activities, is not corrupt

yup I think that's totally wrong

donations are not dues

xps

I also paid $25 or something to join my local LD Democratic organization a while ago but I forgot to show up to the endorsement meeting for the local election which was my whole motivation to join, I probably won't bother until Kshama Sawant is up for reelection again.

yeah donations can be used to peddle influence unlike dues

Οὖτις in Canada most if not all parties charge an annual fee for membership, and I'm talking low two digits. I suspect this is true of many other countries. The notion that this is "elitist" is ridiculous.

a political party that requires dues paying is a) elitist and b) inherently corrupt

not sure where i stand in this epic debate, but the first thing that comes to mind is how donating money to favored candidates is the standard way to support them. it's not required, no. but it's how you participate in the election. or at least, that's what joe biden eternally asking if he can bum $5 off of you seems to think

i guess that's already been covered, whoops

$12 vs "take a weekend off to travel across the state to the state convention and maybe get to vote on something"

it's elitist in the sense that poor people aren't going to do it for the privilege of weighing in on low-level party functionary elections.

donating to a candidate is a more direct way of saying "I want to vote for this person for elective office", it's a bit more direct

ftr I hate the whole dynamic of candidates having to raise money at all - either from small online donations or PACs or huge donors - I'm basically for publicly-funded elections.

xps

Impossible to guess which of those is going to get more people involved.

donations can be used to peddle influence

this happens way less than people think ime

fwiw I would like to point out that milo significantly moved the goalposts here, which originally were "there are no political parties" and "there is no way to participate", both of which are still demonstrably untrue.

In your experience? How many closed door meetings have you been in? Xp

UK Labour has membership fees as low as like 3 pounds a year, it's almost like you can design fee structures to account for income levels, age, etc..

and now we're arguing about whether parties should charge dues for the privilege of participating via online voting.

xps

by many countries' standards neither the GOP or Dems would qualify as proper political parties, I suspect

I mean I paid dues to a local organization and I don’t even know if they’re actually an arm of “the party” or if they’re just “a club of democrats in my legislative district”, I think they are responsible for precinct committee officers whatever those are. I didn’t even get a membership card! Sham party imo.

How many closed door meetings have you been in?

all of them!

j/k I mean generally just from reading about how major legislation has gotten hashed out historically. (Pork barrel projects are sort of a different category)

we really need to bring back earmarks, doing away with them is how we got into this mess in congress

I agree about that, actually

I thought about trying to join Socialist Alternative but you have to submit to an interview where they ask you if you agree with their views and I'm not up for that

now there's a party

I was typing on my phone while eating lunch, Shakes, I mean you could have asked me to explain what I meant rather than having a rage incident.

I said we 'don't have political parties' because - via the undemocratic structure - we don't have something (rules, platforms, a coherent ideology) built and actually supported by membership. Again, this was specifically in reference to the DNC superdelegate rules, which had essentially zero democratic influence in their creation.

essentially zero democratic influence

this is also not true

I mean just... what is it with these sweeping pronouncements

aaahahahahahaha

appearing at a Tom Steyer rally tomorrow night in Columbia, S.C.: Yolanda Adams, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and Juvenile

— Josh Jamerson (@joshjame) February 27, 2020

why look, a vote of the party membership determined something
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/25/politics/democrats-superdelegates-voting-changes/index.html

7000 people who could travel across the country voted on a proposal forced on the executive committee, yes.

That is definitely more democratic and less elitist than a major decision being put to any larger portion of the 30+ million people who voted in the 2016 primary because you saw the word 'dues.'

I kinda don't want microdecisions left to voters

What about macrodecisions like “party chair” and “nomination rules”

required dues seem bad, but suggested dues seems reasonable?

some caucuses and primaries are completely covered by the state party, and in Iowa the expenses were actually pushed back down to the county organization

so there was a literal "pass the envelope" situation and I'm thinking a lot of counties came up way short

Xpost Yes those are fine

2016 DNC attendee income numbers can be found in here: https://www.cbcfinc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/CPAR-2016-DNC-Report-min.pdf

43% made more than $100k
23% made more than $150k

Same distribution as the general public right?

Totes

V democratic

it's the party that brought Shakey to the dance.

I was planning to do some legwork for DSA when I paid the dues two years ago, but since then i'm doing things like fighting w/ the NY State health marketplace so I don't have to pay two deductibles after they signed me up for the wrong plan

(thx Democrats)

Those 7000 ppl voting were democratically elected by party membership

Many xps

and now we're arguing about whether parties should charge dues for the privilege of participating via online voting.

no organisation should have online voting for anything

by many countries' standards neither the GOP or Dems would qualify as proper political parties, I suspect

they are both pork-barrel factories

didn’t even get a membership card! Sham party imo.

they probably have it in an envelope with your name on it at the entrance table to every meeting

I pay them $25 and they can’t spring for a stamp?

appearing at a Tom Steyer rally tomorrow night in Columbia, S.C.: Yolanda Adams, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and Juvenile

back that cazzh truck up

I pay them $25 and they can’t spring for a stamp?

you pay them $25 and can’t be botherd going to the meetings tbf

I pay $25 for a lot of stupid things I don’t take advantage of.

Probably one of the more common amounts of money for me to spend fruitlessly.

Feel like this thread is Carlo Rizzi getting Sonny worked up

I pay 25$ every time I visit ILX. doesn't everyone?

Do we tell him?

Chris Hayes kicking ass now on MSNBC.

whose?