Why the shake-up at the Democratic National Committee is doomed
The shake-up at the Democratic National Committee after聽聽of its email system continued Tuesday with the departure of three senior officials.
But purging the DNC of top officials won鈥檛 remedy the DNC鈥檚 problems. Those problems aren鈥檛 attributable to individuals who didn鈥檛 do their jobs. To the contrary, those individuals probably fulfilled their responsibilities exactly as those jobs were intended to be done.聽
The DNC鈥檚 problems are structural.聽
The Democratic National Committee 鈥� like the Republican National Committee 鈥� has become little more than a giant machine designed to suck up big money from wealthy individuals, lobbyists bundlers, and corporate and Wall Street PACs.聽
As long as this is its de facto mission, the DNC won鈥檛 ever be kindly disposed to a campaign financed by small donations 鈥� Bernie鈥檚, or any others. Nor will it support campaign finance reform. Nor will it be an institutional voice for average working people and the poor. It won鈥檛 want to eliminate superdelegates or support open primaries because these reforms would make Democratic candidates vulnerable to non-corporate interests.
What鈥檚 needed is structural reform. The DNC has to turn itself 鈥� and the Democratic Party 鈥� into a grass-roots membership organization, with local and state chapters that play a meaningful role in selecting and supporting candidates.聽
And it has to take a lead in seeking public financing of campaigns, full disclosure of all donations, and ending the revolving door between government and the lobbying-industrial-financial complex.聽
Unfortunately, I doubt this will happen. Which is why no number of purges of individuals are going to make the DNC the kind of organization that serves the public interest. And why we鈥檙e going to need a third party, or a third force, to pressure the Democratic Party to do what鈥檚 right by America.
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