Unfortunately, the disaster that has become the Michigan primary is emblematic of the larger problems in the process of how Americans elect their presidents. Michigan Democrats will be able to choose from only Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., former Sen. Mike Gravel, D-Alaska, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, or “uncommitted” in the meaningless Jan. 15 Michigan Democratic primary. The rest of the candidates bowed to the national party’s pathetic adherence to the supremacy of voters in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Dodd is the lamest duck of the group, as he dropped out of the race entirely after his poor showing in the Iowa caucus. I’d like to support Kucinich, for certainly he must understand the challenges facing Michigan as a senator from Ohio, right? Unfortunately, he fought (unsuccessfully) to remove his name from Michigan’s ballot as well, so I can forget about voting for him. That leaves the fledgling Clinton and the extreme-long-shot Gravel as the only campaigns that have not disregarded Michigan Democrats.
Michigan Republicans will have their choice of any of the party’s presidential candidates — Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Ark. Gov. Mike Huckabee, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney, Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., and former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn. To Michigan voters, it may seem the Republicans are more anxious to take President George W. Bush’s job than Democrats, as they will have nine Republicans to choose from, compared to just four (although only three are active) Democratic candidates.
Do the other Democratic candidates really not care about Michigan voters? Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., Sen. John Edwards, D-S.C., N.M. Gov. Bill Richardson, and Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del. — who has since dropped out of the race — all signed a pledge not to campaign in Michigan. That didn’t stop them from sending their family members and other supporters to the state to ask for Michigan voters’ money, however.
Unfortunately, even if the Michigan primary had included all of the candidates, the problems are much larger than just this election. The process by which American presidents are supported, nominated and elected is full of broken and undemocratic systems. Candidates are judged by the amount of money they are able to raise. In past elections, I cannot remember hearing so many stories about fundraising in the media and people discussing candidates’ worth in terms of dollars they have raised, as I have within the past year.
The early primaries and caucuses are clearly undemocratic, as they are inconsistently conducted and held in states that are anything but representative of the diversity of the American population. Once the two major parties have selected their nominees for the presidency, they collude to hold debates that feature only their two candidates and are really more like parallel interviews than actual debates.
Even the election itself is a rather undemocratic procedure. The system is designed to accommodate only the two major parties, and they have no intention of allowing this to change any time soon. By labeling any candidate or party that threatens the power of the two major parties a “spoiler,” the Democrats and Republicans maintain a stranglehold on the electoral process. This could be easily remedied by adopting instant runoff elections, as many cities, counties and local municipalities have successfully done for years, but how bad will it have to get before voters demand such changes?
The Electoral College is an even bigger mess, as it renders millions and millions of voters’ choices meaningless, as all but two states award their full number of electors to the winning candidate. As a result, a candidate, such as former Vice President Al Gore in 2000, can win the popular vote, but lose the Electoral College, and thus the presidency.
Until all of these problems are resolved, how can I really argue with people who say they don’t vote because their vote won’t count? More urgently, what am I going to do on Jan. 15?
Write-ins for the Democratic primary will not be counted, so that rules out supporting your candidate of choice unless it’s Clinton, Gravel or Kucinich, and I don’t particularly want to support any of them. Quite disappointingly, it looks like Michigan voters will have to wait until November to actually influence the election.
Ryan Dinkgrave is a State News columnist. Reach him at dinkgra2@msu.edu.
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