Pandora's Box

My dearly beloved makes the point that I live in Michigan. This is true as I have lived in Michigan for the last 12 years, or 3 election seasons to use his time measurement system. Upon arrival to Michigan I found an in with the college Republicans at Hope College and actually did some volunteer work for the Dole for President campaign. Not a surprise really since the Dole campaign changed my life in more ways that I can really comment about in a brief post.

When I came to Michigan it was still under the Engler Administration. I can't comment much about this since I didn't particularly pay attention to local politics when I came here. After a while though I was forced to pay attention by my belief in eternal vigilance and by my residence. My beloved will tell you I am hyper-responsible when it comes to matters of a civic nature.

Now, we have a clusterfuck and the question has been asked "How can Democrats run a country if they can't run an election?" Well first of all, neither party is qualified to run a country in my opinion. This has been proven time and time again in Michigan and in other states. Democrats and Republicans are the opposite side of the same coin and they're a bunch of jackasses. I think the Republicans should also adopt the jackass as their symbol based on the last 8 years, or maybe even a monkey. A monkey might be more fitting actually.

Democratic senator Carl Levin, from Michigan called the system for getting a nominee "irrational". It's irrational on several levels. First of all, I am loathed to admit I agree with him elections should be held on the same day in all states instead of having it spread out over months. This does give an advantage to earlier states, I don't care what logic one wants to argue, it's a bad system and that's true on the Republican side as well. Second, I've long said that people should run regardless of party (like in the old days) and the person with the most votes would be president and the one with the 2nd most votes would be vice president, again regardless of party. This is because I agree with Washington that political parties are of the devil, that's not quite what he said but it's the same idea. Michigan then came up with a "compromise", which isn't really a compromise by any means of the imagination.

Under the Michigan compromise, the Michigan and Florida delegations are seated but they get half a vote. What's the point in half a vote, does anyone else see the irrationality here? It's still disenfranchising the votes of both states, but now we have to put on a face that we're happy with the idea. The party wants to claim this is a move towards unity, but is it really? I mean the Michigan delegates were divided in a way that makes very little sense to me. Obama gets 59 and Clinton gets 69, but they're each worth half a vote. Florida had an equally ridiculous concept for its delegates. It would have been more rational to divide out all the delegates equally and have them either worth half a vote or give them full voting rights. After all Obama followed the rules and shouldn't be penalized for this.

A much more rational system for nominating would be to just have conventions. Have delegates to the convention and no primaries and let them pick the nominee. This way people can vote in the general election, but everyone can vote on an equal footing, and winner takes all is much better than proportional divisions. These proportional divisions are ridiculous, and I feel the same way about the super delegates.

Pandora's box has been opened though and this leaves this election season with a bad taste. It's unfortunate, because the reality is Obama is very capable and it's not his fault these things have gone on, Clinton is an opportunist and will either have him assassinated or will cry foul play all the way to the Supreme Court like someone else we know to get the nomination. She will do whatever she has to do now that she has been given a foot hold, plus the number of delegates needed has now been increased in an attempt to level the playing field. Why level it when she is still over 170 delegates behind? It's basic historic precedent, black men have always gotten things before women and why should being elected president be any different.

Obama's administration doesn't strike me as being any worse than what we've had for the last 8 years, but I'm not sure who he'd want his cabinet for various positions so I can't really comment a lot here. Clinton's administration would probably mirror her husband's and NAFTA was a bad idea then and is a bad idea now. Michigan was the 2nd hardest hit with NAFTA losses and it's completely unfair that the issue was handled the way it was under Clinton and Bush both. I could say the same for the way each president has handled the war on terrorism as well, but I'll save that.

The whole electoral process has become irrational in this country and now we have irrational delegate counts, we now increase delegate counts for the Hell of it etc. We do all sorts of ridiculous things in the name of trying to be fair and give everyone a voice, but having state conventions on the same day, and then having a national convention to make the nomination official would be a much more rational plan, or even having different state conventions and not releasing the results until the national conventions. Primaries and then conventions seem to be antiquated ways for determining a nominee, especially when neither is productive and the season gets stretched out so much.

I for one, can't wait for this election season to end. I am sick and tired of the whole thing and I am relieved that my party doesn't stoop to these levels. These tactics are just an example of why both parties are made up of microcephalic pissant peons that should fix their cranial rectal inversion.

In conclusion, when I ran for office as a Libertarian we didn't have these kinds of issues. I think though that Obama shouldn't be penalized for the party being a bunch of morons. Obama and McCain are both capable and should be evaluated on their own merits, I just prefer Libertarian ideals and will be voting accordingly. Statements that I am throwing away my vote by doing so will be removed.

Until next time RAF :)