Thoughts from Charlie

I have been nearly silent, at least in writing, on the national election contest (which in America is unfortunately reduced to who will be president - as if Congress were an afterthought in the founding, a mere puppet for the all-mighty executive branch - needless to say this flips our Constitution on its head).

I saw you posted a reference to the "resolution" of the Florida and Michigan delegates.

But is it a resolution? Or is it more of the same of what happens in our political system: a sham, a farce, and more importantly - the explicit recognition that LAWS do not count, whenever following them is INCONVENIENT - or worse - when the Party or Parties decided that it may cause them some kind of difficulty in the next election (again "primarily" the next Presidential election).

We have elevated presidents to monarchs, at minimum, and to near absolute monarchs at worst.

This fiasco is an example of that. And the fiasco is not the controversy that "not all votes would be counted" by not seating these delegates. But the idea of seating them AT ALL and in the first place.

This is no different than the total ignoring of the rules that forced Dean OUT of the primary in 2004. But it is worse.

There should not be a SINGLE delegate from Florida or Michigan seated at the convention. Why? Because "that is the law." PERIOD. You don't just change the law to suit your desired outcomes or your concerns for bad-publicity or controversy.

This is a sign of the ultimate weakness (and lack of principles) of those heading the Democratic primary.

I predicted several months ago that THIS "deal" would eventually be the outcome - as WRONG as it is.

And the reason being - because it is PURELY symbolic and ABSOLUTELY pointless in the actual process.

Indeed to claim, as so many Democratic elites have been doing, that this ensures that "all votes are counted" only further undermines what that phrase means - and indeed LEGITIMIZES the kinds of acts that the Bush administration played in the last two president election cycles. All voters WERE NOT counted.

And NO VOTES are actually being counted in this "compromise."

Instead pandering is going on - along with "spin" - to create the false impression that the Party cares about the votes (and the voters) when it does not. It cares about the IMPRESSION that some voters might have it is is "reported" or "assumed" that the Democrats "ignored" Michigan and Florida.

Neither of those primary votes were VALID. That is according to the rules. I did not write the rules. And this whole fiasco is really a result of the convoluted rules - which were primarily convoluted in the 1980s with the creation of superdelegates (which every sort of downplays) AS A MEANS of ensuring that the PEOPLE (the rank-and-file) could not likely choose a candidate that is NOT TO THE LIKING of the party elite.

Seating a 50-50 delegation from each state accomplishes what?

Well the purpose for voting in the primaries is to "choose" (by the people) the party's nominee. (Actually this too is false - just as voting in the presidential election is portrayed as such).

Both processes are ACTUALLY a process whereby you are supposed, as a voter, to choose an INDIVIDUAL known to you and from your local area to REPRESENT you in the PROCESS of choosing a nominee (or a president in the case of the Electoral College), in a process of deliberation, which takes place at a CONVENTION (or at the Electoral College).

Indeed we publicly finance these "conventions" (with no purpose any longer) as nothing more than publicly funded campaign ads for the two major parties (and having the very real - and often very desired - effect of ensuring the hegemony of ONLY those two parties. Why does the Green or Libertarian party not have nationally televised primaries at the public expense? Because their members did not control Congress to GIVE THEMSELVES this benefit at the public expense).

A 50-50 seating delegation, which I predicted four months ago would be the outcome, is a SYMBOLIC gesture at the most.

It does not COUNT a single vote from either state. It merely "seats" PEOPLE from those states on the floor of the convention.

Indeed it is INTENDED to ensure that the Convention DOES NOT choose the candidate at all - but that it is chosen BEFORE the convention (which is the reason the convention has no purpose any longer - other than as publicly paid advertising for the two major parties).

Don't forget it was Terry McAuliff that led the pressure to REMOVE Dean from the 2004 primary early so that the decision could be made BEFORE The convention. Yet he is now Clinton's campaign advisor doing the exact opposite. These are the ultimate in hypocrites. They say whatever and do whatever in a RELATIVISTIC manner - relative to the present situation adn without regard for consistency over time.

The delegates to the primaries do little more than attend parties and have the privilege of sitting on the floor (and possibly being seen on TV).

Thus last time the DNC (led by McAullif) ensured that any delegate who did not follow the SCRIPT (made by whom?) would be BLOCKED from the television cameras with a complex system of surveillance and "troops" who would line up in front of them so they could not be seen on camera.

And of course the idea that the decision should be made BEFORE The primary is EXACTLY the rendering of votes of people of states MEANINGLESS.

Where are the other choices - now that it has been narrowed down to two? ANd by what rule was it narrowed down as such. IT is the same logic that says it SHOULD HAVE been ONE already - just like the Republicans.

This is a sham. Welcome Florida and Michigan delegates. You do not represent votes - you represent pandering to your states out of fear that some of you might "pout" over not being seated and not vote. So we will "seat" you. Will you have a vote? Not really - the decision will already have been made. Will your vote be a reflection (a representation) of the votes of the population of your state - clearly not. It is just an empty symbolic gesture meant to FOOL you.

Enjoy your stay at the Convention. There will be plenty of parties to attend. You can sit on the floor and watch as a host of speakers are lined up for days to promote the ALREADY DECIDED candidate (and thus your presence will have had nothing to do with that), and you will be expected to wave signs and sit and stand no less than in the ceremonies of the Catholic Church. The only difference is that "dissenters" will not be tolerated.

Let the primaries - all of them - actually WORK - if we are to have them at all. Let ALL states vote BEFORE there is a single candidate "forced" or "pressured" to "drop out." And let those votes determine the outcome. Remove ALL superdelegates from existence. And then - without public funds - let the delegates attend a convention.

Or have all primaries on the SAME DAY - just like the national election. (But that is not desired by the candidates and campaigns - and more importantly - the industry of campaign consultants).

Or get rid of the primaries all together and have a simple convention. WHo should attend. Well - either superdelegates (not chosen by you but by the party elite) - or one in which you vote for a person WITHOUT COMMITMENT to a candidate (indeed lets IGNORE candidates until the convention) but someone you trust and feel an affinity towards - and have them make the decision (as non-elites).

Or better yet, in my view, take the choice of president OUT of the hands of the people - as was intended - not because the people SHOULD NOT be allowed to choose presidents, but because popular votes for president DISTORT the role of the president and INFLATE him (or possibly her) into an entity of government never intended and FAR TOO CENTRAL and FAR TOO POWERFUL - and subordinating the Congress (OUR branch) to its own whims (and thus the whims of the "majority party").

Let's take back OUR control of Congress, as people, and render the Presidency what it was supposed to be - the "chief clerk" - who MERELY follows the DICTATES of a Congress, in executing the laws that THEY make, in reflecting the laws that WE INTEND to make.

I am going to write a more thoughtful piece on this and post it on my website in the next few days.

But this "compromise" or "solution" of the DNC - is an example of the very same "compromise" of our laws that lets Presidents GO TO war without Congressional declaration, etc.
It is the undermining of our system of government. And rather than ensuring every vote counts - it demonstrates that your vote is nothing, to the party and governing elite, than a way to keep you BELIEVING you have power when in actuality, so long as you play in that game, you HAVE NONE.

Also,

I cannot urge more strongly that as many of us, and those of our other friends and acquaintances, attend this year's DemFest.

Its been 8 years. We need a strong showing - and we need to really strategize for the future.

What IF a Democrat wins the presidency (a situation I would not say is ensured - but is more likely than not). Will this solve our problems?

No. Will it make us feel better. Likely.

But it will also likely sweep under the rug most of the serious and significant problems that need to be tackled - because such problems do not make for good "re-election" campaigns.

And the problems of our nation do not lie with answers that a President, any president, can provided - unless we can find a president who is willing to defy the consultants, the trends, the norms ... and often their own ignorance of our system (these are people trained in "the system" (as it is) not the government (as it is meant to be).

At the national level they lie primarily with the Congress and its subordinated role to presidential-led party politics. And the resultant complete elimination of the element of separation of powers/checks and balances meant to prevent that (even though we still play lip service to that as if it were there).

But most of all - it lies at our local level of government - where WE THE PEOPLE should be ruling far more directly and building that self-rule from the ground up, through our counties, to our states, and on up to our national government.

We have the whole thing backwards.

Charlie Grapski

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