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A Report on the Flawed 2016 Democratic Primaries

(drive.google.com)
212 points DamienSF | 1 comments | 27 Jul 16 05:59 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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forbes ◴[27 Jul 16 07:24 UTC] No.12171132[source]▶
Does any other country have a 'primary' system like the US? In Australia there is no pretending to elect candidates for each party. In our recent election we had two choices for PM from the major parties, chosen by the parties themselves.

In the US you spent a year choosing your candidates, but behind closed doors one of those parties spent all their time trying to push one candidate whilst the other party spent all their time trying to stop another.

The Australian system seems a little more honest, even though the roles of PM and President are quite different. We can elect a PM and the party can then choose to throw them out the week after. This happens frequently.

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1. pas ◴[27 Jul 16 10:20 UTC] No.12171679[source]▶
Usually parties have a documented and sort of transparent-ish process, that they undertake, and eventually hold a very well publicized vote/election to elect the nominee.

So far this is exactly the primary process. The difference is that the US one is big. In time and space. It takes many months, and potential nominees know that they are in the race from the first moment, because they know that politics is a lot more about showing up, moving your voters, than being on the ballot. (See the NRA, Church of Scientology, and other religious groups.)