The nation is broken because the system is fixed.



As a proud Wellstone Democrat, I have been pushed to my limit this election cycle with how top-down the Democratic Party nomination process has been. The deck has been stacked in one of the most un-democratic tilting of the playing fields that I can remember and it is a potential disaster for our entire party.



While there are many ways in which the establishment is fixing this contest, today I will only be discussing the rigged debate process. 8 years ago, debates started in April and there were over two dozen of them. This cycle, only 6 were scheduled, and they started so late into the season that it allowed the insider with the strongest name recognition and political machine to consolidate their early lead by depriving Democrats (and prospective Dems) the opportunity to get adequate exposure to each of the candidates. It’s the same reason a certain someone skipped Netroots Nation, the BET Presidential forum on Racial Justice, and the Moveon.Org online forum on Tuesday.

To add insult to injury, the few debates that were scheduled before the first contest (Iowa Caucus) were hid on the lowest visibility broadcast times possible, like on Saturday nights, the busiest xmas shopping day, and piggy backing the NFC Division NFL game. When other DNC members complained about this rigged process that cheats real democracy, they suffered retribution.



Although I’m a Bernie Sanders supporter (disclosure), Martin O’Malley actually summarized it best when he blasted the crony DNC Chair for this crooked scheme. MUST WATCH, and scroll ahead to the 4:22 mark of the video to cut to the chase.



For those that are unaware, the entire debate process falls under the executive power of the Chair of the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. She used to co-Chair Hillary Clinton’s Campaign in 2007-2008. DWS imposed the shadiest, most crooked debate schedule possibly in the history of the Democratic Party that was clearly designed to protect the early lead of Clinton.



To add insult to injury, there was an unprecedented “Exclusivity Clause” imposed on all the Democratic Candidates whereby if they engaged in any debate not sanctioned by the DNC (precisely DNC Chair DWS), they would be excluded from all future debates. This was mostly targeted at Bernie Sanders who had expressed a wish to bring ALL the candidates from many parties together on the same stage to have a real discussion about the future of our nation.



Since Bernie and Martin are the only 2 left outside of Clinton, they should BOTH buck the exclusivity clause and start scheduling debates now. Possibly even schedule some with a few Republicans and the Green Party’s Jill Stein. The worst that could happen is they would not be allowed to participate in the remaining few DNC debates. Would a “debate” still go forward if only one candidate was invited? Even if it did, would anyone bother to watch it?



Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley, unite on this. Call Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s bluff. Give America the debates it wants, not those that establishment cronies dictate we should have.



