What's With the Democrats?

Well, the Democratic Rules Committee met this weekend to determine what to do about the two naughty states -- Florida and Michigan. In their effort to resolve the problem of these naughty states who moved their primary dates in violation of party rules, they (in my humble opinion) have made matters worse. It seems that they are generously seating the delegates with one-half vote each AND awarding some percentage of the Michigan delegates to Barack Obama (who was not on the ballot as part of the party boycott). So -- what's wrong with all of that?
First, why does MY vote only count for half of what votes in the other 48 states are worth? I heard someone yesterday say that she was going to send a contribution check to the national democratic party -- actually she was going to tear the check in half and send half a check. If I recall my high school days, the US Constitution at the time of its signing counted African Americans as 3/5 of a person. That was changed along the way, but today the Democrats are counting Michigan and Florida voters as only 1/2 person! A giant step backward. On top of that, these wise folks on the rules committee are usurping the will of the voters in Michigan by (in spite of the actual votes) giving some of those delegates to Mr. Obama. At this point I really don't care who the nominee is -- I preferred John Edwards who withdrew some time back.

The Party claims that they have to punish the states whose primary dates violated the rules. They are partly right -- I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH CHANGING THE DATE. Why is my vote being discounted? Let's think about the super delegates! Let's strip the super delegates from Michigan and Florida of THEIR votes instead. These are the politicians and players of the Democratic party who were invovled in changing the dates. And then, let's look at the possibility of a National Primary Day -- that way no state gets to "go first" or become more important in the decision than anyone else.

Whatever the outcome of this election, it will be tainted by this debacle. Whatever happens, we need some kind of election reform and we need it ASAP. We look at elections in some of the third world countries and send election observers to make sure that all is done above board. Soon, they will be sending people here trying to keep our elections honest and orderly. Come on, folks, wake up! There is no good or easy answer, but we need to take a long hard look at our processes. Who is electing the president -- the parties or the people?