One of the greatest traits of our democratic society is the fact that we get to choose our leaders.  With the exception of a few appointed positions, all of our local, state, and federal officials are elected by “We the People”.   Or are they? Let’s focus on the highest office, the position that wields the most power in the world, that of US President.  Do you really think “We the People” elect that person?  I don’t! Early in our election process several interested parties declare their candidacy for the office.  They campaign is several states, vying for primary votes, caucus votes, whatever votes they can garner.  They participate in ‘debates’, some even televised that are little more than a dog and pony show, totally without substance.  In the end, it seems it is the power brokers of whichever party that selects their candidate.   Sure, in states that have primaries, it could be argued that “We the People” select the party nominee.  In fact, as in Michigan, a citizen who votes has to declare which party’s primary to participate in.  If, in the early stage of the political process, one has not decided if they will vote for a Democrat or a Republican for President, how can you decide which primary to vote in?  Why should you?  And now we find out that the National Party has the right to disregard our primary votes if they don’t agree with the date of our primary. What about states that have party caucuses?  I think of this as a closed group, long time politicians, state party officials, and a few political leaders from each county.  Let’s get a bunch of party cronies together to tell us all who is our best choice for President.  “We the People” have virtually no part in the choice of a candidate!  THEY DECIDE who the states’ electoral votes shall be given to, not us. Something new to me is the “Super Delegate”.  The way I understand it, these are, again, career politicians who have the power to veto the will of the voters by casting enough votes each to “properly” decide who will be the party (Democrat) candidate.  This really comes in handy if voters mistakenly select a candidate who is unpopular with the party bosses! The end result of this entire process is a candidate is chosen from each political party, finally to be voted on by “We the People”.  What we get to choose is quite often the lesser of two evils.  We often don’t get to ever cast a ballot for the candidate we favor, that person wasn’t chosen by their party.