As long as I count the votes, what are you going to do about it?
-William Marcy Tweed (”Boss” Tweed, 1871)
Herewith a modest proposal– so modest in fact that none of those charged with resolving the issue has thought of it. The issue wanting resolution is how to enfranchise the voters in Michigan and Florida. They have been disenfranchised through the wrong-headed actions of others with the result that unless corrected, those states’ delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Denver will attend voiceless, a mute state destined to create such chaos as to insure the election of John McCain irrespective of who wins the nomination.
The goal is not to decide who is responsible for the disenfranchisement of the citizens of those two states but how to enfranchise them. Herewith a suggestion that will benefit the voters in those two states and, mirabile dictu, all the television watching citizens of the United States irrespective of their party affiliation. Would that John McCain had it in his power to do as much for the country.
The most frequently heard solution to enfranchisement of the disenfranchised is that there be another primary in those states, either through the caucus system, a mail in vote or an actual election. In any of those scenarios Senators Clinton and Obama would have an opportunity to campaign in those states on an equal footing and the voters would have an opportunity to make their wishes known. The downside, we are solemnly told, is that some of those who voted earlier may, for a variety of reasons such as death, be unable to vote in a second election thus rendering meaningless their earlier votes, votes which the entire debate already demonstrates was meaningless.
Since the only way the errors of the past can be corrected and a democratic debacle avoided is through a second election, the question the average citizen is asking is why the delay in setting the date. The answer, not surprisingly, is money. Since money is the answer, the next question is where can the money be found? And herewith the suggestion (not original with the writer) and the consequences (that are).
There is no reason to burden the taxpayers of Michigan and Florida with the cost of the election nor is there any reason to burden the Democratic party establishment with the cost. According to the Associated Press, Michigan Democratic chairman Mark Brewer, said it would cost the state party $8 million to $12 million to set up party-run election sites and allow voting by mail or over the internet. The same report quoted Rep. Alcee Hastings of Florida as saying that conducting a primary in Florida would cost between $22 million and $24 million whereas voting by mail would cost approximately $8 million and a caucus process about $4 million.
Whichever method is decided upon, the best solution is to permit the two campaigns to share the cost equally, a cost they can well afford. In February alone, Hillary Clinton raised $35 million and Barrack Obama raised $55 million. The total cost of new elections in both states would cost somewhere between $36 million and $48 million, depending on what kind of an election was decided on. If the campaigns pay for the two elections, the Clinton campaign would have $11 million left from its February winnings and the Obama campaign would have $31 million left. Here are the happy consequences of that outcome.
The candidates would have $18 million and perhaps as much as $24 million less to pay for television advertising. This would free democrat and republican alike from thousands, if not, indeed, hundreds of thousands of hours of perfectly meaningless television ads that benefit none but the candidates, if them, and the television stations who profit thereby. Without the need to produce so many ads, those whose job it is to compose the ads could devote more of their time to polishing their skills and making sure that the ads they still have money to produce are grammatically correct. As a result, viewers would not be subject to the incessant question of “Who” we’d like to have answering the telephone in the event of an emergency. (That usage, sponsored by the campaign of a Wellesley College graduate, almost certainly confirms in the minds of many, that “who” is the correct word to use in that particular sentence structure thus guaranteeing its infliction on the rest of us for years to come.) Of course, deflecting $48 million from the assault on our senses is but a temporary reprieve. If the campaigns continue their successful fund raising, in the next four months they will raise between them close to half a billion dollars, more than enough to pay for other assaults on our senses and rendering the reprieve brief at best. A brief reprieve, however, coupled with the enfranchisement of the citizens of Florida and Michigan is not something at which to sneer.
Christopher Brauchli; brauchli.56@post.harvard.edu
For political commentary see http://humanraceandothersports.com
Another modest proposal.
Since it’s Saturday, I hope you’re enjoying this at your leisure. Looks like rain here.
If Clinton and Obama continue their feuding until voting at the Convention is necessary, then half the Democratic Party, more or less, will be ‘losers’.
Why do that? ‘Winning’ and ‘losing’ leads right into McCain’s universe. He and his supporters will shout that they can and will ‘win the war’(doesn’t matter which one) and the Democrats will ‘lose’ it.
The Democrats cannot ‘win’ that argument. Add that to the disgruntled ‘losers’ that the Democratic Party itself created. And then there’s the trauma caused every time that the Dems tear their party apart. Michigan and Florida. Superdelegates choosing the candidate. Not to mention the progressives who are ignored, yet at the same time blamed.
The Democrats need a UNITED party, and as soon as possible. One of the
candidates needs to put their ego aside for the good of the country. Our country needs heroes, not politicos. Our country needs the Democratic Party building enough power to stop the Bush administration from starting more military disasters. Starting yesterday, damn it.
It needs to be ‘us versus them’. For example, the Democrats regaining our freedoms. The Republicans lying continuously while you’re getting poorer and they aren’t. That sort of thing.
The Democrats can ’succeed’ but a Democrat cannot ‘win’.
Reframe. Outside the box think. Above all, unite.
locust___How about a coin toss or drawing straws to decide which one should step down and possibly take vice prez? I could go along with that as there is as much reason to have one as the other, and a hundred reasons why the Dems need to unify quickly to be sure of taking administrative control from the criminals now in power. If we cannot change what is going on we may never get our country back as it is about to go over the cliff and time is short.
A coin toss? No way. Hillary has run a disgraceful campaign. I’ll vote either Obama or Nader, but refuse to get behind another four to eight years of garbage-as-usual.
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NRA Freedom March 15th, 2008 10:33 am
The Democrats (and Republicans) of these states have been “disenfranchised” because they willingly violated national party rules. They were not forced to do so. They were warned that their delegates would not be seated if they did choose to do so. And, they chose to do so. So, screw them.
*************************************************************
Actually, NRA, it was the Republican legislature that insisted on changing the date (ignoring both the DNC and RNC warnings)—not primarily the Dem legislators and certainly not the citizens of Florida. I’m pretty sure that, wherever you live, you wouldn’t much like having your vote taken away by some nitwit politicians of the party opposing yours.
Another modest proposal:
Accept the inevitable - the fix is in. The anti-American neocrazy warmonger cult will stop at nothing - NOTHING - to ensure their unstable puppet McCrazy finishes what they’ve been working single-mindedly on for 30 solid years.
Anyone who thinks said greedy neocrazy warmonger cult is just gonna up and walk away at the very moment they’re at the top of their twisted game is clinically deluded.
Don’t forget - they got the best hole card of all: former CIA asset bin Laden, who has said many, many times that the most important thing is to keep US entrenched in an illegal bloodletting of Muslims with no end. With him on the Red side, victory is all but assured.
And, of course, there’s that “anthrax killer” still standing by for round 2…
dionski, that was Florida, whose legislature did shaft the Democrats.
A coin toss is ridiculous. Only a Hillary supporter would make such a suggestion, thus giving her at least a 50% chance of winning. I’m through with the Clintons, and thoroughly disgusted with her behavior. If she shows up on the ticket, I’m off to vote for Nader. I’ve always ben willing to vote for Kucinich, and the more I learned about Obama, and the more I observed how he has handled himself and situations, the more I liked him. Along with a lot of young people, I believe he has integrity. He has certainly behaved with integrity and good judgment during this campaign, which Clinton has not done.
Obama has the lead in delegates and votes, so he should get the nomination. The math indicates that he will maintain his lead, so dragging this out is all about Hillary’s ego. The electorate and the party be damned. Her tactic is to force this up to the convention, argue that she is the better vote getter in larger states, and hope the super delegates see it her way. Well, most Democrats are willing to vote for either candidate in the end, but independents and progressives don’t like her, many of the young people may refuse to vote for her, she has no coattails so down ticket candidates willnot benefit from her at the top of the ticket. She’s giving McCain ammunition -lots of it - and some of it on purpose even though it can be turned on her as well. but none of that matters to her. What matters to her is getting her way, at whatever cost. Obama is showing a much better example to our youth of setting this country on the right path, of behaving with decency and respect.
kathyodat
If the Democratic Party installed super delegates to do a job, to protect the party from a disaster, well, we have one in the making, of Hillary destroying what should have been an easy win for the Democrats. It seems to me that as soon as the last primary is run, the super delegates should go with the winner and put an end to Hillary’s bloodletting.
My oldest son predicts that the super delegates will force Obama to accept Clinton on the ticket as a compromise and unfortunately he is too often right in his analysis. In that case, I’m off to Nader. Regrettably, for I Ao want to vote for Obama. but I don’t vote for DLC Democrats, we need to get rid of them, starting with the Clintons, founders of the DLC, anti union, anti working class Republicans masquerading as Democrats. Forty years ago, the Clintons would have been classified as liberal Republicans. supportive of social programs, but devoted to the austerity of fiscal responsibility, and that was before corporate cash took over the two parties, merging them into one corporate party. Which changed the picture. and politicians began selling their souls big time for corporate money and the electorate became just a bunch of suckers to milk every four years. there was a time when we had a number of politicians, Democratic and Republican, who voted in their constituents’ interest, and with integrity. But now, that field looks desolate. What a joke this country has become.
kathyodat
@ dionski
You are correct, but to hit nail on the head, we need to point out that the Democratic Party in Florida was forced by economics to accept the date forced on them by the Repugnant Party. If the Dems had insisted on keeping the later date for their primary, they would have had to pay — and they didn’t have the money. In that way it’s kinna funny to fund a primary now.
The bottom line is that primary politics sux and it geared to sustain the two party system which is better than a one party system only in the fact that this kind of system appears to be more stable (and long lived) than openly tyrannical systems
I’m with frank1569, and it’s what I’ve been saying for months - there just ain’t no way, after they’ve accomplished all this demolition, that they’re gonna just sit back and let the dems back in to build it all back up. NO WAY, JOSE!
They let us have ‘06 so we’d think we had a chance in ‘08. That was a necessary ploy because they still had several things to take care of before they could spring their big surprise.
Why? Democrats be damned, the corporate media can already count on getting ALL of Obama and Hillary’s funds. They hold all the cards and have all the leverage. Why would they agree to share some of it for a new election? Obama and Hillary will give it all to Big Media, or face the consequences in the form of bad publicity.
wilmoor, they didn’t let us have 2006. They underestimated voter anger due to late breaking stories, and really only barely missed stealing the election. If you recall, the Republican leadership, including Bush, was in a state of shock after the election. If it had been an honest election, the Democrats would have swept in, not just squeaked in. The electorate, as usual, was clueless.
They’re better prepared this time, and the media is fully cooperating.
kathyodat
Here is the truth about Florida, from a Florida Democrat:
The legislature voted to change the date of the primary. The legislature is dominated by the GOP. Ah, you say, it’s the fault of the Republicans who shoved this down the Democrats’ throats. No, that’s not the way it happened. Both parties were hot to change the date of the primary, and so both are equally to blame. They all went for it, dems and repubs alike. And our fair governor, Charlie Crist, who is now acting like “Mr. Democracy,” decrying our disenfranchisement at the hands of the DNC, did nothing to stop this. Nothing. He KNEW what the rules were for both parties.He KNEW that both the RNC and DNC had specific rules that changing our primary date would break. And he did nothing to encourage legislators to stop the nonsense. Now he’s crying “foul” against the Democrats, and blaming our “disenfranchisement” on them. Bullshit. Both parties went along with it, despite knowing that they were breaking the rules and risking the counting of our votes.
And so, we went to the polls anyway, knowing our vote wouldn’t count, that it was just a beauty contest. But that was ok…and you know why? Because one of the most dramatic proposals to change Florida’s property tax system was also on the ballot. And people came out in droves for that. NOT for the Democratic or Republican primary, because we all knew that our votes weren’t going to count.
We showed up at the polls because the proposal promised to lower year-round Florida residents’ tax bills by a very substantial amount.
You don’t hear this from Hillary or the tv’s talking heads. But that, my friends, is the truth of it.
And as far as I am concerned, as a registered Democrat, I say that neither Michigan nor Florida had a valid primary. They broke the rules, and that’s that.
If they want to seat these delegates at the convention, ok, then split the vote 50/50 so these people can go and get drunk at the parties during the convention. Far be it from me to spoil their fun. I’m ok with that. But Hillary Clinton cannot, in my opinion, claim to have won Florida, despite the outcome of our “non-primary.” Nobody campaigned here, no ads were aired, and no one got to see or hear the candidates, including John Edwards who was also still on the ballot. She won solely by name recognition, nothing more.
We were told long before the primary that our votes would not count. Everybody knew it!!!! We resigned ourselves to it, and but went out to vote anyway because of the big property tax issue. So I don’t feel disenfranchised by the DNC, but I’m mad as hell at those dumbass legislators who should have left the date of the primary alone!
So why isn’t any of this on the MSM? Why arent’ the talking heads yakking about this? Maybe they don’t know, or don’t want to know.
Too boring for them, probably.
Why should any public money be involved with the shaping of any political party? Tax money belonging to all, whether we vote or not, whether we are affiliated with a party or not, is used to fund the operations of the two parties, through the facilitation of primary elections. Is the whole thing FUBAR? Look at the weird tactics and results from Ohio and Texas. Those systems are always ripe for sabotage.
Forget who wrote the other day that there is not enough time left for say, the Obama camp, to appear on the ballot as a New Party candidate. Of course the party machinery would chew him up like dogmeat, but it would force those who would be active in shaping our government to decide just how far we’re willing to go to try to fix it. This is one form of non-violent revolution, though I can imagine it getting very ugly.
Keep dreaming Vince, even this would be too scary for the somnabulance police.
“YOU THERE, shut up and buy something. Whadaya think that rebate’s for you? Exxon and Wal-Mart need you to do your patriotic duty, so pay up serf.”
The transfer of our tax money to oil companies and exploitive poluting junk producers. What a coupe, what absolute laughing arrogance and malice.
NRA Freedom March 15th, 2008 10:33 am
“The Democrats (and Republicans) of these states have been “disenfranchised” because they willingly violated national party rules. They were not forced to do so. They were warned that their delegates would not be seated if they did choose to do so. And, they chose to do so.
So, screw them.”
You’re absolutely right, NRA Freedom. Those involved in politics continue to believe they are beyond rules and laws.
It’s disgusting how these people behave!