LETTERS: Unbound delegates tying up GOP
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos: “So you have to have to a majority of the delegates in order to be the [presidential] nominee. There’s nothing magical about the number. It’s 50 percent plus one. So no one’s disenfranchised. In fact, they’re enfranchised by receiving bound delegates based on the outcome of the elections.”
But not all of the 2,472 delegates are required to be “bound” to a presidential candidate prior to the national convention. The magical majority number (1,237) to secure the nomination prior to the start of the convention is way too large. These unbound delegates are in effect super delegates whose vote will not be known until the first ballot at the national convention, unless they commit to a candidate before then. The majority number to secure the nomination should truly be 50 percent plus one of the bound and committed delegates before the convention begins.
Super delegates are the demise of any sort of voter representation in presidential politics. A total of 112 such delegates will come from states and territories that do not hold presidential preference elections, primaries or caucuses — Wyoming, North Dakota, Colorado, Guam and Samoa — and Pennsylvania will send 54. These are for sale to the highest bidder, since these delegates are free to vote anyway they want at the convention.
The RNC adopted the binding of delegates rule to prevent delegates from going rogue before the first ballot. Unbound delegates are, by definition, rogue delegates. Don’t be surprised if the good old boys of the Nevada GOP decide among themselves to not hold a caucus in 2020.
Wake up, Nevada. Look around the country and see how the general population is systematically being removed from the process of presidential elections.
Bob Buehler
Zephyr Cove
Supreme Court vacancy
Regarding Ron Lowe’s letter (“Supreme Court blockade subverts democracy,” Tuesday Review-Journal), I guess I should start with him referring to the United States as a democracy. The United States is a republic, as in, “and to the Republic for which it stands.”
With respect to Mr. Lowe’s charges of Republican obstructionism in filling the vacant Supreme Court seat, here’s a quote from then-Sen. Barack Obama in 2006: “There are some who believe that the president, having won the election, should have complete authority to appoint his nominee … that once you get beyond intellect and personal character, there should be no further question as to whether the judge should be confirmed. I disagree with this view.”
In 2007, Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer said that President George W. Bush should not be allowed to pick any more Supreme Court justices, even though he had 19 months left in his term.
Were politics in play in those instances, and are they now? You bet. But it’s hilarious that those on the left act like those on the right invented this game. Both sides are culpable in the annoying and costly games politicians play.
I’ve often said that anyone who seeks political office beyond dog catcher is too crazy to have the job. If you doubt that, look at the people we have elected and those currently running for office.
Richard Wassmuth
Las Vegas
