The Democratic National Committee's decision on May 31 to allow Florida and Michigan delegates to cast half a vote at the party's convention this summer isn't about preserving democracy -- it's about undermining the process.
When the aforementioned states conducted their primaries before February 5, they did so in violation of party rules. Their eagerness to influence the outcome in what would become a historic race between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama for the nomination led the DNC to strip their delegates of votes at the August 25-28 gathering in Denver. By reversing itself on this issue, Democrats appear to be more divided now than ever before ... and what makes matters worse is they can't reassure the public that a similar crisis won't happen in the future.
Watching the primary (and caucus) season turn into an overblown soap opera is bad enough, but seeing the DNC destroy itself is truly heartbreaking. This compromise doesn't unite the Democrats -- it moves them one step closer toward disintegrating. Clinton isn't doing herself or the party any favors by trying to secure delegates she agreed to give up when the DNC handed out their punishment against Florida and Michigan. In fact, her efforts to win the nomination by any means necessary make Niccolò Machiavelli look like Mother Teresa.
Changing the rules after the game has started casts a cloud of suspicion over the results, and that goes against everything democracy is supposed to represent. Having all of the delegates' votes count equally is a matter of fairness ... but when you break the rules, you must suffer the consequences. If party officials in Florida and Michigan had held their primaries as originally scheduled, they wouldn't be in this predicament.
When it comes to politics, Democrats and Republicans enjoy playing the blame game with each other. This time around, though, the DNC has no one to blame for this fiasco but itself.
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