Half a Vote Is Better Than Following the Rules

The Democrat Party, rather than being seen as "disenfranchising" the voters in Florida and Michigan, are going with the same kind of compromise used by the attendees of the first Constitutional Convention in the 1780's, as the delegates from the Original Thirteen tried to cobble together a document that would replace the Articles of Confederation. Because the southern states had relatively sparse populations, it was thought that they'd get the short shrift regarding the number of Representatives they could seat in the House.

Since black slaves weren't thought of, back then, as citizens--or even as fully human by some--they weren't counted. And since a great percentage of the populations of the southern states were slaves, it was finally decided to call each slave 3/5ths of a person for apportionment purposes.

In that light, since most southerners were Democrats back prior to the suffrage and integration of blacks into the full society, one wonders why the delegates of Florida and Michigan aren't given 3/5ths of a vote at the Democrat Convention, rather than half a vote. It seems like a sort of aesthetic consistency, doesn't it?

I don't know how it came about that the Democrats required no state (with exceptions) to have its Primary election prior to Super Tuesday, but they did. I don't know why the officials of Florida and Michigan decided to blow the ruling off and have their Primary early, but they did.

Florida's and Michigan's delegates should not be counted at all. To do otherwise is to change the rules in the middle of the game. Any school child will tell you that changing the rules in the middle of the game isn't fair.

Democrats, as we all know, aren't concerned over what is or is not fair. Democrats live in the world of emotions, not of reason. It doesn't feel right that the voters of Florida and Michigan, and the delegates for whom they voted, shouldn't count.

Well, why can't the Dodgers, finding themselves on the short end of a 9-1 score in the third inning, declare that for the rest of the game, each Dodger run counts as three. It doesn't feel right that a great team like the Dodgers should be that far behind.

Well, as dubious a distinction as it's turning out to be, we all, including Floridans and Michiganers do get to vote for the unprecedentedly poor choice of candidates for the most powerful office in the world this November. The most powerful office except, one might assert, that of the Pope. A lot of very good Roman Catholics don't get to vote for Pope.

My suggestion is that the Democrat voters of Florida and Michigan turn their ire toward the individuals who decided to flout the rules of the Democrat National Committee and hold their Primaries earlier than the Democrats' rules allowed.

Or, they can call each delegate 3/5ths of a person.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California