Washington Post Op-ed: ‘Give the Elites a Bigger Say in Choosing the President’

The Washington Post is taking criticism for an op-ed published Tuesday by Marquette University political science professor Julia Azari, titled: “It’s time to give the elites a bigger say in choosing the president.”

Citing the “rocky start” to the Democratic Party’s presidential primary, Azari suggests that the process of choosing the nominee be taken from the people and returned to the politicians:

The current process is clearly flawed, but what would be better? … A better primary system would empower elites to bargain and make decisions, instructed by voters.

One lesson from the 2020 and 2016 election cycles is that a lot of candidates, many of whom are highly qualified and attract substantial followings, will inevitably enter the race. The system as it works now — with a long informal primary, lots of attention to early contests and sequential primary season that unfolds over several months — is great at testing candidates to see whether they have the skills to run for president. What it’s not great at is choosing among the many candidates who clear that bar, or bringing their different ideological factions together, or reconciling competing priorities. A process in which intermediate representatives — elected delegates who understand the priorities of their constituents — can bargain without being bound to specific candidates might actually produce nominees that better reflect what voters want.

Renowned Feminist Historian Loses Professorship as Experts Tear Apart Her So-Called Historical Findings

Trump Signals Daylight Savings Time May Soon Become Permanent, Praises Bill

Teen Athlete Goes Viral After Revealing She Was Sexually Harassed by Trans Athlete in Locker Room

Trump-aligned House holdouts accused of holding ‘life-saving’ veterans bill ‘hostage’ over SAVE America Act

CNN Needs Trauma Counselors – Paramount Looking to Actual Journalist Bari Weiss to Lead Both CNN and CBS News After Merger

Harvard astronomer tapped to lead White House UFO council says US government ‘baffled by what they are seeing’

House Democrat Ro Khanna says he was detained by armed Israeli settlers in West Bank

Trump-appointed judge permanently ends Proud Boys’ Jan 6 case, says Constitution left him no choice

Church in China Announces Massive Government Raid, Almost Three Dozen Christians Detained

Brazilian Couple Sentenced to Prison for Homeschooling Their Own Children

Europe’s demographic time bomb is killing its leaders’ popularity

WATCH: GOP senator warns ‘hammer-and-sickle’ politics will define Democrats’ 2028 primary

Appeals Court Blocks Part of ‘Stop WOKE Act’ in Florida, Allows Professors to Openly Teach Racism Against Whites

DNA technology leads to arrest in 1988 killing of Orlando woman after nearly four decades

Trump’s EPA chief pushes back on climate skeptics being labeled ‘science deniers’

Azari suggests that the parties should use what she calls “preference primaries,” which would “allow voters to rank their choices among candidates, as well as to register opinions about their issue priorities.”

After a perfunctory voting process, wlites would be able to choose a nominee based on information about what the voters want.

She acknowledges that the idea is “labor-intensive and a little risky.”

The Post is owned by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, who is the world’s richest man. The paper’s slogan, adopted as an intended rebuke to President Donald Trump, is “Democracy dies in darkness.”

That phrase was trending on Twitter on Wednesday morning as readers reacted ironically to the op-ed.

The headline right below “democracy dies in darkness” is some A+ work

— Greg (@gwiss) February 19, 2020

>"Democracy dies in darkness"

>"Do people actually want more Democracy in their lives" pic.twitter.com/p7fPf5dFVX

— ｓａｌ🌹🏴🏴‍☠️ (@ProjektVayo) February 19, 2020