Joe Rogan - Congresswoman on the DNC & Bernie Sanders

They had Either the same name or similar names with people that had some sort of a criminal record if somebody made a typo when they Put their their name in the system and then they were they were made Ineligible and then there was also some concern that some of that was deliberate because so much of it was taking place in democratic districts Yeah, it's um It's very disconcerting the idea that someone would try to rig an election Yeah, I mean we would like to think that that is an absolutely un-american thing to think of but people it is American it is but people can come up with very strange reasons for justification of very Awful acts. Yeah, and this seems to be one of them. They think their side is right well that that points to The the super delegate issue that Democrats have been dealing with where People who have been arguing to keep the system of superdelegates where in a state like mine in Hawaii, for example We've got four superdelegate votes Two for the members of Congress and two for the senators explain that to people who don't know what a superdelegate means So this is something that is Created by the political parties themselves. So the Democratic Party has has been using the superdelegate system where As people are running for president you have a certain number of delegates that go to one person or another Based on that state's rules. So some states say it's winner-take all other states say that it's proportional So if you get 60% of the vote that means you get 60% of the delegates But then you have this special category of superdelegates, which they're there over 700 of them It includes all 435 members of sorry all Democratic members of Congress Democrats in the Senate and people who are appointed by the party leadership both at the state and the national level and so what we saw in in in my state of Hawaii, for example is Over 70% of the voters voted for Bernie Sanders But out of those four superdelegate votes, he got one Which is mine So the superdelegates don't have to cast their votes to reflect how the their constituents voted So how did the rest of them vote they voted for Hillary? So that puts you in a situation where and this is not about well Bernie would have won without superdelegate This is not even what that's about This is about really looking at people casting their votes And then you have this special group of people who are either elected or appointed Who can then say I don't I don't agree with the way that the people in my state or my district voted So I'm just gonna vote the other way and then shift Potentially the outcome of that election for that state or for the country. So did it shift it for Hawaii? Yeah Yeah, so Hillary won Hawaii's Superdelegates but the people voted differently and it was 70% of the people vote Yeah, for it wasn't it wasn't close It was it was but she won the state and that was how how you saw That's in some states where you know, I think I don't know for mom there were a few other states that I remember looking at where When they were counting the votes as they were coming in they would report one number But if Bernie won the state his number was zero and then there was a certain number that was already built in to Hillary's count Before the votes were even finally tallied because she had already had the declared support of those superdelegates within that state So the Republicans don't do this. I think they may have superdelegates, but those superdelegates are required to Reflect the votes of their constituencies so they don't have the freedom to Change their change their vote or change their mind but Yeah, this is this so this is something that I've been I've been fighting to try to reform within our party is to get rid of superdelegates to Make it so that we have open primaries So that you don't have to be a card-carrying party member to vote in Democratic primary because that was another problem We saw across the country where people were turned away because in some cases Well, you didn't register with the party a year ago, which is the requirement and so Have open primaries and then you have same-day Registration if you're not registered to vote you should be able to register to vote on the day of the election So that you can participate in our democracy Those things seem so clear-cut that seems so dry but the the superdelegate issue in particular. It's that's so disturbing Yeah, that seems so dirty. Yeah, so there's been some progress made since then though just recently the DNC had a meeting Where it was a very strong majority of people who voted to bar superdelegates from? casting their Their own free votes in the first ballot in a presidential Convention so I don't know it's been a long time since it's gone to the second or third ballot, but that that was a major step forward to make sure that as people are going and casting their votes in these primaries that they're not Risking being overruled by again a group of special individuals who are elected officials who are lobbyists and who are Party officials and people coming from all different backgrounds Is there any? Resistance to getting rid of these superdelegates. Yeah, the resistance was very strong It was not a given that who is this gonna pass at all people who are very very invested in this system But it seems like they would have to be invested in keeping the system rigged like making it easy to influence elections By having these few people that you can control Having influence over these people these people have massive influence over the results of the election That is so it's it is it's it's so counterintuitive to what we stand for with our democracy Yeah, and I think there is I Mean it's a fear of losing power I think ultimately is what it comes down to and you have people who said hey look I've given my life to the party You know I put in all of this time and energy. I'm a volunteer I'm doing this and all that which all of that is is fine, and it's great, but that shouldn't Make it so that like you know as myself as a superdelegate. I've talked about this I shouldn't have any my vote shouldn't count for any more than yours or anyone else's and that we should be strengthening and and Empowering and uplifting the voices of the people Rather than saying well this small elite group has way more power than you so we'll see what they think about things It's so bizarre that that's a part of the system It just seems like that's something that should have been eradicated a long time It should have been now Bernie Sanders had to be fuming. Yeah, I mean that from that and Then from finding out the DNC actively conspired to have him lose the primary all of that Sorry one last thing on the super deli is that some of those who support it have said is that? It is their job to be able to save the country in case the people elect someone who isn't good Really hilarious yeah, that is a hilarious justification. Oh, you know better than the whole country Yeah, you must be super smart. Yeah, what kind of test you have to take super delicate to become a super delegate What do you have to do? Yeah, it's certainly not a written test. No. It's it's really I mean again You're either you're either an elected member of Congress, or you're somebody who the party chooses Wow the idea that the reason to keep that is because you know better I mean that's essentially what they're saying you know better than all the people that voted yeah, so disrespectful to it's crazy to people It's really crazy yeah Mmm, so I mean that that's been I think a positive thing that has come through all of this is is more people are saying like You know I honestly wasn't paying a bunch of attention to super delegates before all of this and a lot of people had their eyes Opened up to say okay. This is clearly wrong. Yeah, why was it there in the first place? Let's do something to fix the process well most people don't think until this election The general public wasn't even aware that that was that that was the case yeah, and then when You know people find out about they go wait wait wait What yeah they can just decide to not vote the same way the people voted yeah And then they could the state can lose I mean the person can lose the state even though 70% of the state voted for that person right that's insane. Yeah, it is did you read Donna Brazil's book? I didn't read the whole book. I heard I got excerpts excerpts from it and of it I was shocked that They conspired to have Hillary win the primaries. I was more shocked that more people weren't outraged Yeah, what does that tell you it tells you that people have sort of resigned to the idea that this is a corrupt system Yeah, that they don't have time and me it goes back to what we're saying earlier that you know people are exhausted Yeah, most people most people are exhausted, and I think that's where you see a lot of a lot of the energy that came around for Somebody like Bernie Sanders or somebody like Donald Trump who are perceived as being not of the system yeah But it shows us it shows us where we need to go honestly, and you're talking about authentic honest leaders who have integrity and and I think people are not as Blind to the people can tell you can tell if you're being real or not or if you're signing them a false bill of goods I think they're better at it now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah paying more attention Well, it's also this there's enough footage of people now. That's yeah, everybody's a reporter now Yeah, I mean it's it's easy to go back and say well look at this interview from four years ago Yeah, when they were completely different like what happened? I mean it's it's also like calculated maneuvers that people do politically to align themselves with one group or another where they realize like okay There's a lot of money in being a this that's of that you know there's a lot of money in being a whatever it is Yeah, Republican or Democrat or there's there's an angle for success right yeah that's All of those different labels and things that people are capitalizing on within the political world I think are the things that are turning off more and more people right to the politics because then it's like well if you're not Branded with this label then I'm not going to talk to you I'm not going to have a conversation or it's this camp versus another camp this tribe versus another tribe rather than like recognizing even amongst our own families and friends and communities like we We figure out ways to talk things through and find ways to collaborate in areas where we agree We can agree to disagree on certain things But we can do that with you know what we in Hawaii call Aloha and with respect and actually find a way through to move forward