Question for historians: Is it true that the American delegate system was put in place to allow the votes...

Question

of the uneducated "mob" (i.e. "the people") to be overturned when party elites see fit??? Why is this arcane system still in place? Most Americans can now read and many are highly educated. I think it hasn't been changed because it serves the proposes of power mongers. What say you?

Answer 1

If you are referring to the Convention Delegates of the respective parties....it is NOT "the American delegate system" - it is the system devised by the several parties - which are not ANY part of the Government.

Furthermore, the parties adopted the delegate system, and primaries fairly recently in their history, so it is not a system "still in place" but one put in place recently.

However, I think you are referring to Super Delegates to the party conventions, which are of even more recent vintage, and have never played a significant part in the selection of a presidential candidate until this year, when they might or might not.  The Super Delegates are supposed to be honorary in nature and a way to reward elected officials and party bigwigs without forcing them to be elected as delegates in the primaries/caucuses.

All in all your question seems to display a breath taking ignorance of both the Government and the political parties, and each's respective roles.

Answer 2

yes, that was the reason they originally set that into place. the reason they still have it is political.

Answer 3

It's always been in place.  However, the primary system in the Democrat Party (no more winner take all primaries and "super delegates" picked by party bosses) was put into place after the McGovern disaster to slow down and stop lunatics, like McGovern, from hijacking the party.

The primaries in the Republican Party have changed somewhat, but have far fewer delegates and still have "winner take all" states.

The old system, where party bosses picked the candidates, gave us Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Wilson, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower and JFK.  Look at what the current system has given us.... LOL.

Answer 4

Sadly I don't really have any references, I'm being too lazy right now to go and look for any, but that is how the delegation system was made.

You can look at why it's still here by two perspectives. You can look at it as the politicians just trying to take advantage over the people, or you can look at it like the American public actually is pretty ignorant.

You don't need any examples of politicians taking advantage of people, but you might need something to prove America is still pretty ignorant. It turns out, many people I know actually said they were voting for McCain solely because Obama did hold his hand over his heart during the national anthem, or pledge of allegiance, or whatever it was.

Though, today it's a bit different, the delegates don't push people in political directions like they used to back then, that's the media's job now.

Answer 5

You're talking about Party delegates, I believe.

The Parties were formed to rule over the mob in the first place, to swap your support of an idea you don't care about in exchange for the support of others who don't care about your ideas, and to throw it all behind one person who doesn't really give a d**n about either of you and your ideas, they just want Power.