The Democratic Party came to the wrong conclusion yesterday. What they did was wholly UNdemocratic. How can anyone, especially if they live in Florida or Michigan, ever have faith in that party again? It's bad enough that the Republicans shit on Florida in 2000, but now the Democrats have shit on them in 2008. This is not good for the country.

The problems with the Florida primary were entirely caused by Republicans. Everything else about their primary was legitimate. The only fair thing to do was to have re-instated Florida's delegates fully as if the primary had happened in March. The Democratic Party did not do this.

The problems with Michigan were caused by the Democrats themselves. They should not have given Iowa and New Hampshire any more preference over any other states in scheduling their primaries. Additionally, all of the candidates besides Clinton chose to have their names removed from the ballots, and they paid for lawyers to have this done. The only fair thing to do is to give Clinton all the delegates she earned, and allow the remaining delegates to go to the convention as "uncommitted", exactly as the ballot showed. This was, after all, the intent of the remaining candidates. The Democratic Party did not do this.

When the Constitution was adopted, it treated black people as 3/5 of a person--not a whole person--just 60 of a person. This, of course, was wrong and took nearly 100 years, a Constitutional Amendment, and the costliest war in American history to remedy. What kind of message does it say to voters when the Democratic Party says "Your vote is worth only half on account of where you live, but everyone else gets a full vote"? How is this different than saying "You're only counted as 3/5 of a person due to your skin color, but everyone else gets counted as a whole person"? What part of fair and democratic voting does the party not understand?

One of the things they did was take four delegates away from Clinton (that she earned) and awarded them to Obama (he did not earn them). This had the effect of changing the votes of 600,000 people in Michigan. How is this democratic? How is this even legal? Of course this made a lot of people angry. It's the sort of thing that goes on in corrupt governments and dictatorships. It should never happen in the United States... but it has.

I can tell you now that there will be TV and radio advertisements in both states that say "The Democratic Party took your vote away. They don't want you to vote, and they don't care about you. Vote for McCain, instead. We care about you! We counted all of our votes. Paid for by the Republican Party." How is that going to help defeat the Republicans in November? It won't.

Here are some things that people at the meeting yesterday had to say about it:

"I am astonished that we have the gall and the chutzpah to substitute our judgment for 600,000 voters. Hijacking four delegates is not a good way to start down the path of party unity. Mrs. Clinton has instructed me to reserve her right to take this to the credentials committee." -- Harold Ickes, committee member

"Denver! Denver! Denver!" --Hecklers, booing the committee and the Obama supporters, suggesting the fight be taken to the National Convention

"The Democrats are throwing the election away. For what? An inadequate black male." -- Harriet Christian (New York)

(True, it had never occurred to me that he was "inadequate", but that is the best adjective to describe his experience and credentials.)

"This is outrageous to have four delegates just taken away. I don't feel like we have any voice in this party." -- Joan Lipkin (Missouri)

"The committee sold out to Obama. Obama gamed the system. That's the Obama game. He talks about new politics, but he plays dishonest politics." -- Lyn Forester de Rothschild (New York)

Yep. I've always been saying "Change? What change? Obama has never said what he plans to change to. He's doing the same thing as everyone else, but alienating those who would play the game on his side." People believe he's playing a new type of political game (and therefore a clean game), but it's just a different kind of dirty. At least with Clinton we know exactly what kind of mud there is and that we can fling it and win.

I believe that the Democratic Party chose (long ago) to have Obama as the candidate. Unfortunately, his chances of winning against McCain were slim before the RBC decision, and now they're slimmer. That McCain is the next president means that there will be no restoration of civil rights, no restoration of environmental policies, no attempt at universal health care. Rather, the opposite: health care will get more expensive, the government will break more laws, the environment will continue to be raped for a profit until it dies (taking us with it), and a nuclear war with Iran is statistical likelihood.

I've seen these kinds of political fraud happening on the news in communist countries, dictatorships, third-world countries where democracy is a joke and everyone knows that they don't have any real power there, but I never thought I would see these kinds of things in the United States. Then it happened in 2000 with the Republican Party... now it's happening in 2008 with the Democratic Party. Haven't we been habitually chastising those countries for the undemocratic elections? Nevertheless, we've turned into them. You know, for the first time ever, I truly feel doomed."