Democracy Is No “Trump” To The Delegate Process

Democracy Is No “Trump” To The Delegate Process

by Jake MacAulay

 

Does it drive you crazy when you hear politicians and talking heads refer to America as a “democracy”? If it does, I sympathize with you. And so do America’s founders.

 

Here’s what James Madison, our fourth President and the man they call the “Father of the Constitution,” had to say about democracies:

 

Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths…

 

So, despite what you have repeatedly heard, the purpose and the premise of the Constitution of the United States is the establishment of a Christian Republic under God, NOT a democracy.

 

Recently there have been numerous complaints about how “unfair” the primary election system is regarding the popular vote, the caucus procedure and the delegate count.   Just like there are many checks limiting our President and Commander in Chief, understandably our founders provided numerous safe guards, such as the Electoral College, for the election of this powerful office.

 

Aspiring Republican nominee Donald Trump has criticized the way the GOP chooses presidential party nominees as being “corrupt” and “crooked," though according to a new NBC analysis, Trump has actually benefitted from the present system more than any other candidates.

 

The current GOP front-runner has also complained that the present system is not how a "democracy" is supposed to work! 

 

Well, the good news is that is Trump right; our system is not how a democracy is supposed to work, because our system is not a democracy… we are a Christian Republic governed by a Constitution which is rooted in Biblical law, and in this Republic, law rules – not the majority.

 

Nonetheless Trump's emphasis on democratic fairness may prove compelling to voters. According to some polls, Republican voters believe the nomination should go to the candidate with the most votes. In other words if a candidate gets 40% of the popular vote, he/she should get 40% of the delegates.  But that's NOT how it works because the primary election system has never been a pure democracy, where the number of votes you get is transitioned into the exact same number of delegates.

 

In our American "federalist" system, the federal government has very limited powers given to it by the Constitution. The rest of the powers are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

 

The political parties in each state, consisting of politicians who are elected by the people from that state, make most of the rules concerning their election process.  The delegate appointment rules in many of these primaries have been established for nearly a century.

 

This places the burden to navigate the rules in each state on the candidate.

"We've got a corrupt system. It's not right. We're supposed to be a democracy," Trump told supporters Sunday in Rochester, New York.

With all due respect Mr. Trump, I hope you understand that American Law and the political process is not ruled by what you, or a majority of people you convince, determine.  In this American Republic, law “TRUMPS” the majority.