More politics :: Florida’s whining is annoying
I read this article in TIME magazine online, and I need to speak out against how wrong it is on almost every single count.
This article was written by a Miami-based TIME correspondent, so just keep that in mind as I debate his points.
First and foremost, I am tired of the incredible lack of accountability and the woe-is-me victim stance that has basically become the norm in American discourse these days. The whole point of this article is basically to lay the blame for Florida Democrats’ primary election predicament on the feet of Howard Dean, the Republicans, Barack Obama, or basically, anyone but Florida themselves. This is a complete fabrication. The reason the Florida Democrats were not able to have their primary count, is because they violated established party rules, that were quite clear - along with warnings from the Democratic Party specifically outlining the penalty for violating the rules. They chose to do so anyway. I certainly can’t see how anyone can blame anyone but the idiots running the Florida Democratic Party, but clearly they are trotting out the woe-is-me-we-are-victims rhetoric that has become the standard line when anyone is called into accountability for their actions anymore. Frankly, it sounds quite childish. Now that they have been given the punishment that they knew all along was coming, the Florida Democrats are crying foul. Well, I don’t really feel sorry for you all. You did this to yourselves in a vain attempt at a ridiculous me-first attempt to garner more influence in deciding the Democratic nominee. Boo-hoo. Take your punishment with some dignity and stop the crying. Your silly threat to just take your campaign donations and go home is one I’d gladly accept.
I am also tired of hearing about how the Florida Democrats feel they have been ‘disenfranchised’. As far as I can tell, Floridians are still allowed to vote in the General election this fall - you know, the one where we actually choose the next President of the United States. The Democratic primary is a party-run affair for the Democratic party. This isn’t actually real disenfranchisement. If the citizenry of Florida were prevented from having Electoral votes this fall, that would be a real injustice. The fact is, whether you like it or not, Florida doesn’t get to help choose the Democratic nominee this time. Big deal. Democrats in Florida will still be allowed to vote for a Democrat this fall if they so choose. Stop crying ‘disenfranchisement’.
Also, Floridians should stop asking for a re-vote. This is an incredible sore-loser ploy. The Florida Democratic Party leadership screwed this up for you. You don’t always get a second chance in life. You all sound like a 5 year old who lost a board game. “It’s not fair! We deserve another try!” they cry. No, you don’t. You broke the rules, take your medicine. “But New Hampshire did it too!” the article complains, failing to miss the entire point. The reason for having the relatively small states primary and caucus first is so that they have a fighting chance to be heard at all. If we let Florida (the 4th largest state as the article points out) go first, along with other bigger states, the nomination would be all but decided and the smaller states wouldn’t count at all. All your whining about ‘disenfranchisement’, but you’d gladly prevent so many other states from having a voice at all. Doesn’t jive with me. The ironic thing is that Florida’s crass attempt at exerting far more control over the nomination process backfired on two fronts: firstly they won’t have any delegates, secondly if they had held their primary as originally scheduled, they would have likely been able to tip the nomination one way or another, as the race was still quite competitive at that point.
Serves them right. TIME should know better than to publish this whiny article from Florida. This mess is clearly not Dean’s fault, nor Senator Obama’s. The blame lies with the Florida Democratic Party. It’s time they grew up, accepted their punishment with some grace, and accepted the blame for the position they put themselves in.
