LeMon Aid: America's dreadful democratic process needs rethinking

When you think about what does not work in America, you would immediately dredge to the surface of your mind drug testing in professional sports, irritating lapels sewn into the necks of T-shirts, regularly unscheduled airlines and the primary system for choosing the president of the United States.

The eternal process in the Democratic Party is wearing just a tad thin. One of these candidates should be taking a long vacation right now, and the other should be writing an acceptance speech. What went wrong?

Where’s the will?

For starters, this system is not about the “will of the people.” It’s about the will of Iowa and New Hampshire and any other state that wants to cut to the front of this line. Look at Michigan and Florida, who tried, unsuccessfully, to play political leapfrog and got left in the dust.

The jockeying for position by these states to be the “first” has nothing to do with a passionate electorate panting to pull those curtains over the most sacred right on the face of the globe. No, it is about bucks, cash, legal tender, coin.

The fastest-on-the-drawstring-in-the-voting-booth state is the one guaranteed the world will show up on its doorstep in high-definition TV. Its restaurants will be invaded with coffee-guzzling TV crews, hotels will be jammed with blurry-eyed reporters from Bayonne and Brazil, and the chamber of commerce will be positively giddy with guarantees of gratuitous growth.

Who are we kidding? The political primary system in our democracy is laced with superdelegates, secret deals and calendar mongering that would be an abomination to the Philadelphia crew.

Nationwide primary

There has to be a change. This is not working.

I have the answer. And this will not strain the IQ of any of my readers.

We should have a nationwide primary in early June. Stay with me; let’s think about the advantages to this suggestion.

First, on one day the Republicans and Democrats could all go to the polls and there would be no “first” state to craft the “momentum.”

That is what it is all about, you know. Momentum sounds like a highly emotional trip for the electorate. When I think of momentum, “psych up,” “warm-up the crowd” and “work them up into a frenzy” comes to mind.

I don’t know about you, but I think this democracy thing should be a thinking person’s style of government. You listen to the candidate’s abilities to defend positions, exercise natural humor and remain calm under stress – and then try to figure out if this person is worthy of your trust.

Second, the party conventions need a change. Why not hold them in March, when the party faithful can choose two candidates to present to the nation in June? Think about it. They could have 20 candidates on stage the first night and have a debate. Continue the debates and question-and-answer sessions with the delegates at the convention, and it will not be long until there are just two standing.

You could have all the super-duper delegates you wanted. They could carouse until all hours of the morning making deals under the table, over the table and on the wall, and nobody would know the difference, because in the end, they would still end the convention with just two candidates.

Third, after the June primary, the winner could immediately pick a running mate and the two of them are off to see, touch and talk to us, the engine for our democracy. We can then center in on the character of the candidate and listen carefully to what this person thinks, not just what they emote.

I know, you are missing the balloons and the confetti! We all live for that final night of the convention when the acceptance speech becomes a rousing moment for some serious momentum with the obligatory balloon and confetti storm.

Well, in June, each political party can rent (they can afford it) some huge ballroom and bring the final candidate out to a roaring blizzard of good will and balloons and confetti.

Then the race begins.

If you are thinking this is the craziest, wackiest idea you’ve ever heard on how to run a national election – wait until the evening news tonight!

Cal LeMon of Springfield-based Executive Enrichment Inc. solves organizational problems with customized training and consulting. He can be reached at execenrichment@aol.com.