Democratic Primaries
Showing Original Post only (View all)Hypothetical: If Sanders dies of coronavirus, what should happen to the primary? [View all]
I know this is terrible. BUT Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, and Joe Biden all have slightly increased risk of death of coronavirus due to age...and not to mention how Donald Trump is handling the pandemic. If Donald Trump dies, it's clear that Mike Pence becomes President and would move forward running. And there is already a thread asking about the situation if Biden died.
So now I am going to ask what happens if Sanders dies. This is more likely than a scenario where Biden might die because of Sanders' health. People with heart disease have a greater risk of serious outcomes during the coronavirus outbreak. This hypothetical also has a lot of similarity to a scenario where Sanders just up and concedes. BUT there are also some significant differences, primarily because ending the primary run would not have been voluntary.
Question#1: For Bernie Sanders supporters (and any Undecideds who wish to answer) only: will you support Joe Biden in the general election? and just throw support to him generally speaking?
Personally, I will support him 100% with the exception of some nuances as discussed below that really are not related to Electoral politics except indirectly. (I will support him but I might not support preempting the primary without proportional representation.)
Go Democrats!
Question#2: For Joe Biden supporters (and any Undecideds who with to answer) only: Given that the primary is actually about more than just electoral politics, it's also about getting delegates to democratically influence the Party Platform and the DNC staff, how would you guarantee continued democracy, i.e. proportionally representation of progressive Democrats at the National Convention if Bernie Sanders died?
This question is a bit complex and relies on an understanding of exactly what delegates and the convention entail and while I've made mention of it before, there seems to be a huge focus on Bernie Sanders as a person, attacking him as a narcissist, and not properly addressing the needs of democracy. I don't know how well I am explaining this so let me repeat it in another way.
Bernie Sanders is a nice guy. Joe Biden is a nice guy. It would be terrible if either of them died. Bernie Sanders is still just a person, but he currently is representing something bigger than himself. He is the current representative of the progressive side of the Democratic Party and Joe Biden is the current representative of the moderate side, even though Joe is also somewhat progressive. Many Democrats are voting ideologically along this sort-of line and some are not, but still many are. The delegates for Bernie that he would hypothetically receive will tend to a much greater extent to be progressive and the delegates for Joe will tend to be less so, more moderate. Now if the population in the Democratic Party is 40% progressive and 60% moderate and Bernie were to quit immediately, the ideological population of delegates at the convention would be more like 25% progressive and 75% moderate.
This would create a situation where moderates would have undue influence over the platform and other decisions of the body. It would be less fair than if Bernie were to continue up to the time of the convention where actual proportional representation of progressives could be achieved or approximately so.
So my question again is how will Biden supporters guarantee no ideological group (in this case moderates) would have undue influence in the Party if Bernie Sanders were to die?
Go Democracy!
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden