Re-Do Difficulties in Michigan?
While some might feel that voters in Florida and Michigan are being disenfranchised by not allowing their delegates to be seated at the Democratic Convention, I for one believe that when they voted, they knew that possibility existed.
Now it appears Michigan might be headed in the same direction as Florida.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s hopes of ending the primaries with game-changing victories from new contests in Florida and Michigan grew dim on Tuesday as Florida officially scuttled plans for a new vote and Michigan lawmakers appeared far from a deal.
Most children are raised in households where parents teach right from wrong, a sense of fair play and that rules are set in place not to be broken. How then, do we explain to those old enough to understand that in our elections if you are trailing, it is perfectly acceptable to change the playing field in midstream?
If the RNC were to announce today that they were now allowing all of Michigan’s delegates to be seated, I would be just as disillusioned as I am with this debate among the Democrats.
See, I get a real queasy feeling when I read the following:
Gov. Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania and Gov. Jon S. Corzine of New Jersey, Clinton supporters, are trying to line up money to pay for a Michigan revote. Mr. Rendell called the financier George Soros, a Democratic donor, on Monday and asked him to help pay for a revote.
Why on earth is the Governor of my home state interjecting himself in the affairs of Florida and Michigan? Perhaps Michigan does not prefer to have Soros money involved in their states politics. (To his credit, Mr. Soros declined.)
The final paragraph of this NYT article sums up the entire mess, in my opinion:
Florida and Michigan were stripped of their delegates for violating party rules by holding their contests in January.
What’s that old saying…rules are meant to be bent but never broken.
Certainly not in a Presidential election should anyone be allowed to alter the rules set in place (no matter how foolish) or system in any manner, or we had better prepare ourselves for challenges in the future which none of us may want to see come to fruition.
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Written by Sue
~J~ Says:
March 19th, 2008 at 4:32 amVisit ~J~
Here’s the thing: Both parties need to get over the Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina first on primaries or caucuses.
These small states do not represent the entire country and their day in the limelight has come and gone.
While I agree the rules must be adhered to, it also seems to me the parties didn’t give Michigan a chance and the Democrats didn’t give Florida a chance.
These primaries are held by the respective parties in each state and the state parties are responsible. If they told the voters the vote was in January then what do we expect the voters to do? Disenfranchise themselves? They are the least to blame.
Rules are rules, but the state party members broke these rules and made the people think it could be fixed. Now they can’t afford a re-do and no one really wants one.
We’re not hearing much about Michigan on the Republican side, but that nomination has been decided already. The delegates from those two states could determine the Democratic nominee.
If they are not seated there will be an uprising like the one in 1968 Chicago.
I blame the parties and not the voters. Unless you’re a political junkie like we are you probably didn’t know it was breaking the rules. And for what? So three states could shine in the sun for a few more days.
It’s time to take the party leaders to task and it’s time to scuttle the present system of choosing nominees.
Let’s have one national primary in the summer or early fall. Let all the candidates debate one another on the same platform at the same time and then we vote in November.
It’s done in six weeks in Europe and can be done in six weeks here too.
Sue Says:
March 19th, 2008 at 9:49 amVisit Sue
I agree with you in relation to this not being the voters fault but while that is true, they did know their respective state had already lost their right to have their delegates seated. You don’t hear voters clamboring for re-votes or re-dos in great numbers. As a matter of fact it seems to me there is only one campaign making lots of noise in that respect.
Oh well, whatever happens, happens. Yes, all these problems within the Democratic party (in the primary process) might be good for the GOP but I don’t think it’s good for American politics in general.