There are some moments in politics where you watch a candidate giving a speech, answering a point in a debate, or doing something dumb in general – and realize that you just saw a political career end.
In 2004, we saw one of those moments; I remember commenting to my wife at the time, “You just saw his career end, right there.” Turns out I was right; Howard Dean ended up dropping out of the 2004 Democratic primary after winning one state in the vote – his own Vermont, now best known for the daffy old Bolshevik, Bernie Sanders.
But Dean wasn’t content to just go quietly into the night. He may not be screaming anymore – at least not in public – but he’s not making any more sense than he did then.
During a recent appearance on MSNBC’s “The Beat” with host Ari Melber, Dean revealed how little he knows about the founding principles of our republic – and so did the host:
Heard Dean: “We have to change [our Constitution]. Our foundational electoral system was affected very much by slavery. This was an effort by the small states, & the slave states to make sure they didn’t lose their influence.” pic.twitter.com/5yQOyZhWzW
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) September 28, 2024
Watch the video, but in the event you aren’t able to watch these two constitutional illiterates without giving in to the urge to throw things at the screen, I’ll cover the high points for you.
Melber started off his rant:
“I mentioned the total vote because there’s no other democracy where you constantly have to balance between what the people choose, and what some other arbitrary, very ancient system will allot. But it is notable that we try to do both here.”
The amount of staggering ignorance in that statement is difficult to unpack, but let’s have a go:
- There is no “total vote.” That’s not how we elect presidents. It’s immaterial and irrelevant.
- The United States is not and never has been a democracy. The United States is a constitutional republic. The words “democracy,” democratic,” or democrat” do not appear in the Constitution, which does, though, guarantee the states a “…republican form of government.” We have democratic institutions, like the House of Representatives – but we temper it with republican (small r) institutions like the Senate, which represents the states – and the state selection of electors, who elect the president.
- Every parliamentary system, such as Great Britain, does precisely this. The people don’t elect the prime minister. They elect their representatives – the members of Parliament (MP) – who then elect the prime minister, who wields considerable executive power. The comparison isn’t perfect, but it’s good enough to reveal that Ari Melber simply doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
- It doesn’t matter if the Constitution is ancient or if it was just ratified yesterday.