It used to be said that when party elites made decisions instead of the people, that candidates were secretly being nominated in “smoke-filled rooms.”
Democrats have long operated that way, still blowing smoke, but now without tobacco. In the words of one famous Democrat running for president “essentially they’re fixing the process so that it makes it almost impossible to have democracy function.”
So said Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. describing the planned nomination of President Joe Biden as, in effect, a “coronation.”
But some in the party – including Kennedy – are against Democratic National Committee plans to remove New Hampshire from its time-honored position of having the first primary of an election year.
The DNC wants to bump New Hampshire’s primary to fifth on the schedule, according to The Tennessee Star. Instead, they want South Carolina to have the first primary.
That’s because Biden had a terrible fifth-place showing in the 2020 New Hampshire primary while his good results in South Carolina were credited with saving his nomination. (Like show trials, Democrats, when they rig elections, must provide some appearance of legitimacy).
Also, in Iowa, which uses a caucus system to choose presidential nominees, Biden came in fourth in 2020. So the DNC also wants to move Iowa’s nomination process to a later date, too.
New Hampshire Democrats don’t want the calendar change, although the Republican-controlled legislature ultimately makes the decision.
Kennedy believes the DNC’s tampering with the traditional calendar disenfranchises voters.
“It’s pretty clear that the DNC does not want a primary … I don’t want to say that they want a coronation, but I think that’s a fair way to put it, actually,” he told Diane Brady of Forbes.
“Essentially they’re fixing the process in that it makes it almost impossible to have democracy function,” Kennedy continued. “They’re effectively disenfranchising the Democratic voters from having any choice in who becomes president — who becomes the Democratic nominee.”
Earlier in the year, Kennedy likened DNC practices to those of the old Soviet Union.
Since local Democrats in New Hampshire and Iowa are ignoring the national party dictates on primary dates, the party has said that if any Democratic candidates campaign in those states, their votes will not be counted, according to Kennedy.
To enforce its changes, the DNC has ruled any votes cast in New Hampshire or Iowa contrary to the official party calendar will not be counted, Kennedy said.
As of Sept. 6, Kennedy had 9 percent in polling for the Democratic nomination, compared to 66 percent for Biden, according to Real Clear Politics. Author Marianne Williamson had 3 percent.
Kennedy has provided an odd mix in the predictable left-right divide in contemporary politics. Those on the left can applaud his environmental activism, while some on the right appreciate his strong anti-vaccination stances.
Others in the storied Kennedy family have distanced themselves or outright condemned him, as reported in publications like The Guardian, The New York Times, CNN and more.
One would think the Kennedy name would retain some luster among Democrats. But several generations have passed and it’s a different Democratic Party.
It’s been some 60 years since Kennedy’s uncle was elected president and was assassinated while in office, 55 years since his U.S. senator father was slain while running for president, and over 40 years since his scandal-ridden other uncle, also a U.S. senator, barely made an impact in his run for president.
Further, the anti-communism of the old Kennedy family would not fit among current Democrats who are CWN — communists without the name.
And top-down party control — including the use of superdelegates — has nominated every Democratic president following the 1972 election disaster of candidate George McGovern, a senator from South Dakota.
From smoke-filled rooms of the past to digitally-enhanced current practices, operations of the party undercut the values one would think to be aligned with the word “democrat.”
And true to his politically maverick persona, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is pointing it out.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
