Are the Elections Just a Dog and Pony Show?

In the days where candidates spend millions of dollars trekking across the country kissing babies and shaking hands there is a sense of familiarity and faithlessness that probably comes across the average person. Not the people who have rallied, or protested. I am talking about the regular guy or girl that has a real job, loud kids, and no time to get too into the politics of politics. These are the individual that glance over the headlines as if it where a movie. You know the ones, where even though you haven't seen it the storyline is so old you can pretty much guess the ending.

However, there is one thing different about this primary. This is one of the first times (in my short lifetime) that I can recall the media playing up the role of the delegates. I mean we all knew that they existed, but their role always seemed to be downplayed in order to get average citizens out to vote. But, not only are the delegates slated to be the deciding factor in this year's democratic primary, there has been an introduction of sort to super-delegates. Super-delegates seem to have greater pull than regular delegates. And, in laymen's terms appear to be the actual puppet masters or deciders.

So in the new age of delegates, super-delegates, and the ever popular Electoral College, how much pull does the average citizen's vote have? Take Florida for example. The Democratic Party decided to remove the delegates from Florida, because they chose to move up their primaries. And, so far, that has been the only state's elections that received little or no coverage at all. Some analyst basically called it a straw poll. Does this mean that those citizens' votes didn't count?
Or what about individuals like I that happen to live in North Carolina, states that hold elections so late that they rarely matter. Generally, by the time North Carolina hold elections the candidates have been nominated. States like North Carolina are so far removed from the process it's as if they are left waiting at the bus stop while the campaign buses go barreling past them.

So, why should candidates spend millions of dollars campaigning to a handful of people? Well, there is the argument that the delegates, super-delegates, and Electoral College are representatives of the public. But, how accurate is this statement? How many super delegates or delegates are working class people? What percentage of the representatives are African American, Latin American, Native America, Asian Americans, veterans, disabled, and women? And what prevents these "representatives" from voting the way they choose to instead of the way their constituents? Are there any rules as to how they can be courted by the candidates? What would prevent these individuals from taking bribes or accepting gifts?

These are questions that we all need to be asking. If the words, "every vote counts," mean anything than as a country we need to lay down the laws to ensure that this concept is not lost.