Michigan, Florida, rules, and pacifying those who screw up

After a day of wrangling in front of a sometimes unruly crowd, the Democratic National Committee's rules and bylaws committee reinstated all of Florida and Michigan's delegates to its party convention, with each getting a half-vote to penalize the states for moving their primaries earlier than the party had approved.

Problems?

Well, first, the apportionment of the Michigan delegates is retarded. I'm an Obama supporter, and I feel that yes, he should be awarded delegates if Michigan is seated...but how do you determine the right numbers if there is no valid election?

Second, Clinton has indicated she intends to fight this further, to get both delegations fully seated with the results of those invalid elections. That doesn't work either, because Obama was not on the ballot in Michigan.

Third, the delegations should not have been considered anyway...because the rules were clear, the penalties were clear, and they were broken.

Fourth, the halving should have been the ORIGINAL penalty, and the elections in those states would then have been with all candidates and have been fair.

But all in all, the Democratic Party sold out. No principles...no backbone. While I feel for the voters in those states, the fact...FACT...is that the states were warned, were assessed the penalty they KNEW was coming, and now get a slap on the wrist and a reconsideration they frankly don't deserve.

Political maneuvering...yep. The DNC doesn't want to piss off the voters in a potentially close race in November (especially swing state Florida).

Well, if principles meant anything, they'd stick to the penalty and face the music in November, strategy be damned.

If voters are mad about it, rather than calling for a reversal of penalties they should be calling for a total reform of the primary system...in all states. A single day primary, no caucuses, no delegates, no superdelegates, no elaborate rules and arcane processes (i.e., Texas), and absolute enforcement of rules violation penalties. Make the rules uniform for all party primaries in all states, and let voters choose the nominee.

That would make sense, and it would take backbone the DNC has shown it does not have.

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