By Amanda Painter

Throughout the ongoing U.S. primary race there’s been increasing commentary, speculation and frustration with the co-called “superdelegates” in the Democratic Party. On Saturday, the Maine Democratic Party convention became the first state convention to vote to abolish superdelegates.

Rep. Diane Russell, D-Portland, speaks on May 7 about a successful amendment she introduced forcing Maine’s superdelegates to vote in proportion to the results of the caucuses at the Maine Democratic Convention in Portland. Photo by Troy R. Bennett | BDN

With the rule change, superdelegates’ votes will be allocated proportionally according to the overall popular vote. The amendment is non-binding for this year and will take effect in 2020.

But before I go any further, what is a superdelegte, anyway?

It’s a little confusing; and technically the Republican Party does not have “superdelegates” in the way the Democratic Party has them (see Wikipedia here). People filling the role of Democratic “superdelegate” include distinguished party leaders and elected officials, including all Democratic members of the House and Senate and sitting Democratic governors. They automatically get seats at the Democratic National Convention, and are free to support any candidate they choose for the nomination; that is, their votes for the nomination do not have to reflect how their state voted during the primary season.

This means superdelegates can potentially swing the nomination vote at the national convention to a candidate who did not receive the majority of primary votes. It’s for this reason that many people see the system as “rigged” and not actually representative of a truly democratic process.

It seems the Democratic Party has long swung back and forth on how much or how little influence party leaders should have at the convention. If I understand correctly, after the 1968 convention, changes were implemented to make the composition of the convention less controlled by established party leaders.

But those changes took part of the blame for “weakening” the democratic tickets of George McGovern and Jimmy Carter. So in 1982, the superdelegate system was devised (with adjustments in ensuing years) to bring back more influence by party leaders. Superdelegates tend to prefer candidates with more Washington experience.

On Feb. 12, 2016, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chair of the Democratic National Committee, was asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper, “What do you tell voters who are new to the process who say this makes them feel like it’s all rigged?”

Schultz’s response was:

Unpledged delegates exist really to make sure that party leaders and elected officials don’t have to be in a position where they are running against grass-roots activists. We, as a Democratic Party, really highlight and emphasize inclusiveness and diversity at our convention, and so we want to give every opportunity to grass-roots activists and diverse committed Democrats to be able to participate, attend and be a delegate at the convention. And so we separate out those unpledged delegates to make sure that there isn’t competition between them.

This sounds great — who on the Left doesn’t love inclusivity and activists? But does it really work that way?

It would seem that fewer and fewer people buy that story — and certainly not Millennial voters.

Maine representative Diane Russell (D-Portland), who introduced the amendment, noted that a number of county delegates wanted to preserve the superdelegate system, but she said their opinion “was not well-received by the convention.”

“Their arguments were basically ‘respect your elders’ and ‘remember McGovern,’” Russell said. “But if the party wants to engage and bring in younger people, they can’t turn around and tell them to wait their turn.”

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According to U.S. Uncut, the amendment also stipulates that the Maine Democratic Party will now petition its Democratic National Committee members to move to get rid of the superdelegate system altogether, at the national level.

“I hope people will stop focusing on the superdelegates themselves and instead focus on the system,” Russell said. “But that’s really something that has to happen at the national level.”

Russell is not the only person to voice those senteiments. In a Planet Waves email conversation, Len Wallick called superdelegates “a form of institutionalized oppression designed to keep We The People of the United States of America from bringing the USA’s plutocracy to
heel. Superdelegates are a hypocrisy for any party which calls itself democratic.”

Once upon a time, people were fond of saying, “As Maine goes, so goes the nation.” It does not always hold true, nor should it (cough…Gov. Paul LePage). Given that Mercury is retrograde in the sign of values — and the Maine Democratic convention passed the amendment just two days before Mercury transited the Sun today — it remains to be seen whether this sparks a trending return to more authentically democratic values in concrete ways.

Planet Waves’ contributor and godmother of research Carol Van Strum reminded us Thursday that Sunday’s Mother’s Day holiday in the U.S. was originally started after the Civil War, as a protest to the carnage of that war, by women who had lost their sons. Julia Ward Howe in Boston crafted a Mother’s Day Proclamation in 1870 that’s just as urgent and timely now as it was then. If the up-swelling of the Divine Feminine is truly upon us, perhaps we will finally heed Howe’s call:

Julia Ward Howe.

Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts, whether our baptism be that of water or of fears!

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.

By Amanda Painter

I don’t remember exactly when I started listening to Democracy Now! I’m pretty sure it happened sometime during my first year of living alone in 2006; working evenings, and without a TV in my home, my local community radio station became the soundtrack of my life during the day and at night after work.

Father Daniel Berrigan handcuffed, circa 1968.

That radio station was (and is) WMPG. It broadcasts out of the USM campus in Portland, Maine. Its 24-7 programming is almost 100% locally produced, with the shining exception of Democracy Now!, which airs at noon Monday through Friday. Somewhere along the line I got in the habit of listening regularly to this news program that seemed to cover stories the flashy TV stations would never touch, and with a depth and humanity that corporate-owned media rarely attempt.

On a regular basis I’ve been outraged, inspired, awestruck, saddened and intrigued. Democracy Now! has moved me into action, and it has moved me to tears. One such memorable day featured a story about sexual assault in the U.S. military; in particular, a few U.S. servicewomen stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan had actually died from dehydration while serving their country, because they’d gotten in the habit of not drinking water after a certain time of day.

The reason? Going to the bathroom at night meant they’d likely get raped by their own platoon-mates. I vividly remember pacing back and forth in my living room, tears of anger and empathy streaming down my face as I listened.

I’ve also listened to Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez and their colleagues reporting on good news: thousands turning out for peaceful marches; wrongfully convicted prisoners finally released; interviews with brilliant, compassionate activists and scholars offering perspectives and information on complex issues in ways that can be understood and acted upon; profiles in tribute to people who have dedicated their lives to making the world more just, more humane, more beautiful.

For example, along with the usual headlines about bombings and political insanity, today’s broadcast included the news that Puerto Rico’s governor has declared a moratorium on a more than $400 million payment due today:

“We have asked Congress over and over again to approve the measures so that we can restructure our debts. We don’t want a bailout, and we have not been offered a bailout. What we want is a restructuring process that will not cost the United States anything. We simply need the legal tools that will allow us to confront this crisis and assure that Puerto Rico will have a viable future.”

Having visited Puerto Rico twice, I find myself concerned about its limbo status: it is neither its own country, nor a full-fledged U.S. state with voting rights. One misguided senator from Oklahoma has suggested re-opening the PR island of Vieques as a Navy bombing range to counter Puerto Rico’s debt — as though its natural resources have no greater value or significance beyond providing a target for war games. To me, the U.S. basically has Puerto Rico in a hostage situation; something I’m pretty sure the Constitution does not provide for.

Or consider Democracy Now’s several segments today in tribute to Father Daniel Berrigan, who died on Saturday, just short of his 95th birthday. A poet, pacifist, educator, social activist, playwright and lifelong resister to what he called “American military imperialism,” Berrigan — along with his brother Phil, a fellow Jesuit priest — played an instrumental role in inspiring the antiwar and anti-draft movement during the late 1960s, as well as the movement against nuclear weapons.

The first priest to end up on the FBI’s most wanted list, Berrigan’s activist resume includes: traveling to North Vietnam with historian Howard Zinn to bring home three U.S. prisoners of war; taking 378 draft files from the draft board in Catonsville, Maryland, with his brother and seven others and then setting them on fire with homemade napalm to protest the Vietnam War; and breaking into the General Electric nuclear missile facility in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, with his brother and six others, to vandalize nuclear warheads and files in an act that began the Plowshares Movement.

I was not familiar with Father Berrigan’s story before he died. But hearing about him today, I was struck by how perfectly he embodied the Sixties. He was “Be the change you wish to see in the world” personified, and he turned the Catholic Church on its head in the process.

Father Daniel Berrigan shared my birthday; I can only aspire to share his conviction-in-action, the way he lived the political as a personal mission. And I’m grateful to Democracy Now! for dedicating an entire program to his remarkable life.

“We have chosen to be powerless criminals in a time of criminal power. We have chosen to be branded as peace criminals by war criminals.” — Father Daniel Berrigan

The Spring Reading is now published. Order all 12 signs here or choose your individual signs here for immediate access. You may listen to a free audio introduction here.

By Amanda Painter

That old politics adage just gets proven truer with each passing week. Today’s twist: GOP presidential hopefuls Ted Cruz and John Kasich have just agreed to coordinate efforts in certain remaining primary contests in an effort to prevent Donald Trump from gaining the necessary delegates to win the Republican nomination outright.

Ted Cruz (left) and John Kasich: not exactly bosom buddies, and yet… Photo by Paul Sancya

The New York Times reported earlier today that Mr. Cruz’s campaign manager, Jeff Roe, said in a statement Sunday night that the campaign would “focus its time and resources in Indiana and in turn clear the path for Governor Kasich to compete in Oregon and New Mexico.”

Shortly after that, Kasich’s chief strategist, John Weaver, said they would shift resources to states in the West and “give the Cruz campaign a clear path in Indiana.”

The campaigns’ allies and affiliated Super PACs are expected to follow suit.

A month ago Weaver had made the suggestion to Cruz’s team, who rejected it in favor of keeping the spotlight in high-profile contests; since then, Cruz’s situation — and that of the GOP elite — has become more desperate, with the goal shifting from winning the nomination with a clear majority during the primaries to preventing Trump from doing so.

Although polls show Cruz trailing Trump in Indiana, Kasich threatens to win delegates in the Indianapolis area. If those votes go to Cruz as a result of this new strategy, he could close the gap on Trump. Indiana awards delegates based on congressional district results and the overall winner. According to the Times, “five of the state’s nine districts include or immediately border the county that is home to Indianapolis,” making that region’s voting integral to the final delegate count for the state.

Also pushing the Cruz-Kasich alliance is the fact that Oregon opens its early voting period this week — although at this time, the Cruz camp has given no specific instructions to Oregon voters to vote for Kasich instead, as Rubio did in Ohio.

Why would the Cruz campaign offer to punt in Oregon and New Mexico? Because if you combine the delegates for those two states (52), it comes close to the total for Indiana (57). Oregon and New Mexico are also “proportional states,” meaning that the winner will not take all. And since Cruz can no longer clinch the nomination in the primaries, it’s no real loss to sacrifice a few delegates to Kasich in an effort to keep them out of Trump’s tally.

Ironically — as both Trump and several comments on the New York Times website pointed out — this move looks a lot like the “collusion” in a “rigged system” Trump has been calling out during his campaign.

The Spring Reading is now published. You may order all 12 signs here or choose your individual signs here for immediate access. You may listen to a free audio introduction here now.

Commenter Peter K of New Jersey wrote, “Excellent! Trump falls just short of 1,237 and the convention becomes an expensive, damaging war for all involved, especially the GOP itself. Trump eventually gets the nomination anyway, and immediately after the election, Merrick Garland withdraws from consideration so that President Clinton can nominate a young, reliable liberal to SCOTUS, who is then quickly confirmed by the Democratic majority in the senate, of course a result of the down-ticket damage caused by Trump. Perfect.”

Bud, from McKinney, Texas, underscores the idea of “down-ticket damage” that could result: “I’m an independent voter and a conservative. If the Repubs do not nominate Trump, I will vote out every sitting Repub from Senator to local city council. We’re told from elementary school we live in a democracy and our votes count. Then we’re exposed to all this nonsense about super delegates with the Dems, silly rules with the Repubs, etc. Cruz and Kasich are behaving like kindergarten children.”

Jack, from New York, New York, adds, “Cruz tried to play as an outsider but now that his campaign is in trouble, he is resorting to the ultimate insider’s game of collusion to protect the status quo. [Do] Kasich and Cruz not realize that we the people are not stupid? Trump’s attractiveness is not himself or his persona — au contraire — but that he offers to expose and eliminate political corruption, the driving force that keeps professional politicians in business. The electorate understands this even if Cruz and Kasich do not. Even Bernie Sanders and his supporters on the other side understand this.”

At the very least, what everyone seems to understand is what a bizarre primary season this is. And, as Fe Bongolan points out in her column today, the insanity is bringing to light much that we can change, if we have the will and integrity to stick to our ethics and demand that our public servants do the same.