this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2025
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_National_Committee
["A closed-door meeting for House Democrats..."]
What part of "House Democrats" do you NOT understand? Nowhere in the article is "DNC" mentioned.
Do you not understand what "candidates" mean? All of the people involved here were elected congressmen -- NOT "candidates". There is no reason whatsoever an elected member of congress would give a shit what "the DNC" thinks unless they are in an ongoing election with a very close race and cannot raise enough money on their own.
Let's go slowly so you can follow my thought process.
They are members of the Democratic Party. You cannot dispute that.
The Democratic Party is a political organization.
The DNC is the leadership of the Democratic Party.
I am dissatisfied with the DNC's handling of the party.
These Democrats in the article doing as they please and, as you said, don't care about what the DNC thinks is the exact symptom of the exact problem I'm talking about.
Are you familiar with the phrase it starts at the top? Maybe if the party exhibited stronger leadership and more unity, you wouldn't have factions running amok with no unified front.
Do you remember how unified the Republican Party was when Obama was elected? That's a unified front.
Not relevant. I'm a "member" of the Dem party and I had nothing to do with this.
Dem senators and congressmen are government employees who have a completely different leadership of completely different organizations: The House Democratic Caucus and the Senate Democratic Caucus. The "DNC" is head of a private organization that effectively does little more than run primary campaigns. None of the Dem congressmen, senators, or presidential candidates work for "the DNC". None of them think that "the DNC" is their "leader". Unless it is primary campaign season, none of them have any reason to listen to "the DNC".
All they do is run the primaries so that Dems can choose their candidates. If you are "dissastisfied", then maybe send them your suggested changes to the rules. But that has zero to do with the leadership of the House Democratic Caucus which is what this article is about.
The House Democratic Caucus is right to not care at all what "the DNC" thinks about anything. They are an organiation of government employees and the DNC is a private organization. And we are right to criticize the leadership of the House Democratic Caucus for their bad leadership.
Unless there is a Dem president, there is no "top". Only a tiny minority of members of the House Democratic Caucus are also members of the DNC.
Oh man, you just deleted the abstractum of hierarchies! Amazing job!
So when the party has a president there's leadership, and when there's no president, there are no leaders, amazing! Heisenberg's leadership!
Anyway, here is an excerpt copied from The Charter and By Laws of the Democratic Party of The United States:
ARTICLE THREE
Democratic National Committee
Section 1.
The Democratic National Committee shall have general responsibility for the affairs of the Democratic Party between National Conventions, subject to the provisions of this Charter and to the resolutions or other actions of the National Convention.
This responsibility shall include, but not be limited to:
(a) issuing the Call to the National Convention; (b) conducting the Party's Presidential campaign; (c) filling vacancies in the nominations for the office of President and Vice President; (d) formulating and disseminating statements of Party policy; (e) providing for the election or appointment of a Chairperson, five Vice Chairpersons, one of whom shall be the President of the Association of State Democratic Committees and one of whom shall be the Vice Chairperson for Civic Engagement and Voter Participation, a Treasurer, a Secretary, and a National Finance Chair, who, with the exception of the Chairperson, shall be as equally divided as practicable according to gender at the quadrennial election, as defined in the Democratic National Committee Charter, Article Nine, Section 16, and for the filling of vacancies that occur outside of the regularly scheduled elections of the President of the Association of State Democratic Committees, all in accordance with Rules of Procedure adopted by the Democratic National Committee; and other appropriate officers who shall be as equally divided as practicable according to gender; and (f) all other actions necessary or appropriate in order to carry out the provisions of this Charter and the objectives of the Democratic Party.
Nowhere in there does it say anything at all about bossing around Senators and congressmen. You just proved everything I told you to be true.
100% correct. There is no clear party leader when there is no president. The leaders of the House Democratic Caucus and Senate Democratic Caucus are each far more powerful than the DNC chairman. The House leader cannot boss the Senate leader. The Senate leader cannot boss the house leader. And neither of those 2 leaders cares the slightest shit what the chairman of the DNC thinks. Do you even know who that person is? Because I don't. He/She is not important enough for anybody to even know what their name is. Jeff Jeffries is the House Leader. Chuck Schumer is the Senate Leader. Nobody knows or gives a fuck who the DNC leader is.
Did you also think that the RNC is the head of the Republican Party? That's not the slightest bit true. Republicans aren't united because of "the RNC". The RNC is a joke. They are united because the billionaires control the entire party and calls the shots on everything they do.
So first you said they only handle primaries. Nowhere did I even see the word primary, but the list of responsibilities went far beyond handling elections. You ignored section D entirely, which I posit is a leadership role. You have no understanding that people can function as leaders and exhibit leadership skills regardless of official hierarchies, titles, and positions.
And finally, you are making my point for me. The party has laughable unity and leadership. If the DNC is responsible for the candidates that comprise the party, why shouldn't I blame them for building a headless party?