Democrats are all about defending democracy. Until they lose. Then they want to change the rules.
Here in California, the Democrats have loved the “jungle” primary, where all of the candidates compete in a common pool, and the top two advance, regardless of party.
Often, it’s two Democrats.
And as Adam Schiff showed in 2024, Democrats learned to manipulate the system so that they could make sure a beatable Republican qualified, over a more competitive Democrat rival.
But now, in the race for governor, there are so many Democrats that two Republicans might make the general election. If that happened, Democrats would be shut out entirely.
It’s still a remote possibility. But it has scared Democrats enough that they are trying to change the rules back to a traditional system in which each party holds a separate primary.
They know that in almost any head-to-head matchup between a Democrat and a Republican in California, the Democrat will win. It almost does not matter how bad the Democrat is, or how good the Republican is. The worst Democrat will beat the best Republican, 99% of the time.
As The California Post reported this week, Democrat political consultant Steve Maviglio filed a petition to return to the old way. He said it was “extremely scary” that a Republican might win.
Yes, democracy does seem to scare Democrats.
Long before Donald Trump denied the result of the 2020 election, Democrats denied the results of elections in 2000, 2004, and 2016, simply because a Republican won the White House.
In the latter case, they spun a years-long hoax about “collusion” with Russia that was designed to push Trump out of office or at least make it hard for him to govern.
And even in 2020, Democrats changed the rules of voting across the country to make vote-by-mail automatic in many places — over the objections of Republicans.
The “jungle” system has been a failure for California. It was supposed to encourage more moderate candidates, who — it was thought — would have a better chance at appealing for votes across party lines.
In practice, the “jungle” system has enticed more fringe candidates to run, because the threshold for qualifying for the general election appears tantalizingly low as more people enter.
And until now, Democrats ruled the jungle.
Now that their control is threatened, they want out.
They will probably get their wish. But don’t ever take them seriously again when they say they are defending democracy.
They’re about as “democratic” as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea — which is what the North Korean communist dictatorship calls itself.
All the Democratic Party cares about is power. And if they can’t get it democratically, they will find another way.
