| | This is a notice to all of the states in the union, and all of the citizens of those United States -
In recent
decades the presidential primaries and caucuses have become
increasingly important. States are either viewed as red states, blue
states or swing states. Other labels, such as "must-wins", are tossed
around constantly. In our current society, travel is easy for
candidates who can raise millions of dollars. States that have early
primaries are likely to host all of the candidates and draw a lot of
national attention. It is the early primaries that are most noted
because the nominee has not yet been decided. [Of course, this year, we
are about to finish the primaries without a nominee.] Some states have
moved their primaries earlier in order to draw more attention to their
state and to be a stronger voice in the deciding of the nominee. With
the surge of early primary schedules, the Democratic National Committee
and GOP put in place some rules about the schedule. If a state breaks the rules, their votes will be ignored. Apparently this wasn't understood by some (2 of 50) states. No one is sure why they didn't understand, but there will be no excuses the next time around, so play by the rules.
Some are
arguing that we call ourselves a democracy and yet we don't listen to
the popular opinion of our citizens. Well, the truth is we live in a
democratic republic. Our elected officials make all of the decisions.
We get to elect them (that's the democratic part) and then they (the republic) get to
make all the decisions for us. That's how it is. We
get to show our approval/disapproval by reelecting the incumbents or
electing someone new. We can even run for their position, if we feel so inclined.
Floridians and Michiganders-
Stop whining about the injustice of not being seated at the Democratic Convention. You (meaning, your representatives) broke the rules and you were told you would be punished. 48 other states followed the rules and 48 other states will be seated. I feel bad for your individual citizens, who would like to have their votes counted. Unfortunately, the state leaders chose to move their primaries to impermissible dates and no one squawked until it was much too late. Those state leaders are to blame.
My state (Oklahoma) played by the rules and scheduled our primary for February 5. Because we were scheduled on a date with 20 other primaries (and we are not a large state), we weren't visited by any of the candidates. We were considered of little importance. So, do we need to make some changes to our rules? Maybe. But we can't change the rules for 2008. It's too late.
We'll find out Saturday if the DNC will stick with its word, or if they will make a statement that states can ignore the rules and appeal them later when it doesn't suit them.
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| | Posted 5/28/2008 12:26 PM - 60 Views - 2 eProps - 1 Comment
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