Letters to the EditorOpinions

Letter from the News Editor’s mother

Basic math says U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders should be ahead in the delegate count, except he is not.

According to Bloomberg, Hillary Clinton won the Iowa primary by .3 percent, with 52 delegates at stake.  Bernie Sanders won the New Hampshire primary by 22.4 percent, with 32 delegates at stake.  

Each state has superdelegates that are allowed to vote for any candidate they wish. That’s right, they do not have to cast their vote based on the wishes of the people, and they can change their mind. In fact, a considerable portion of superdelegates have already pledged their vote to Secretary Clinton. They have done this even before their states have held a primary.  

As it stands, Hillary Clinton has 394 delegate votes and Bernie Sanders has 44 delegate votes. There are 4,325 delegates not yet allocated and 2,382 pledges are needed in order to win the nomination.

Why is this not being vigorously covered in the media? Why do we continue to use a truly archaic and rigged system? How can every vote count if some of the delegates are allowed to vote against the populous in their state?  

I understand the need for delegates and electors when we traveled by horse and buggy. I do not understand the need for them in modern times. We have the computer technology to truly make every single vote count. We should be electing all of our officials by popular vote, especially our president.

True democracy is a government voted in by the people.  How dare anyone tell a voter, ‘You did it wrong, so I will fix it.’  

We are not children. We have a right to be heard and represented. Is this really the best we can do?  

I don’t believe it is.

I have always told my children: Take what I did right, and carry it forward, take what I did wrong, and do it better.  

Shouldn’t all of humanity do the same? There is always room for improvement. Nothing and no one is perfect, but shouldn’t we always strive to be our best selves?  

Our political system needs a serious overhaul. Every single person needs to cast a ballot. Let all of our voices be heard.

We cannot and should not be denied the right to elect our officials.

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