I got into (yet another) heated political discussion with a good friend of mine this past weekend.
I was visiting her new house to help christen her balcony with a beer and a friendly chat. I told her ahead of time I did not want to talk about politics at all that evening, you know, to keep things civil. But she persisted.
A rabid Obama supporter, she chirped in my ear and pecked away at me about how Hillary should quit and she’s tearing the Democratic party apart, until I couldn’t take it any longer. So then I unleashed the beast, and soon thereafter, our chat had devolved into an all out war. There were tears.
We can all admit we are embroiled in a bizarre political contest at the moment. And what makes it the most bizarre is that the delegates from 2/50 states (which is 1/25 if I’m remembering my math right, which is 4 percent if I’m remembering my percentages right) of this great country are not being seated.
Four friggin percent are being thrown out? And we already want candidates with serious support to quit? We want to declare losers and winners right now? What planet are we on?
My friend is also a rabid UCLA basketball fan. I asked her if in the last few minutes of a neck-and-neck game, if UCLA was behind by two points, if they should quit. You know, not to drive the basketball players apart. “It’s different,” she whined. Maybe.
Listen, I’m not here to point fingers or lay blame for this colossal screw-up. But, actually, I am going to point a finger at the DNC and shout loudly “What gives?”
Last time I checked, the DNC is supposed to work for the American voters. The DNC would not have a function or exist without them, in fact. So why doesn’t the DNC use its position of leadership and power to enable a smoothly run, fair, and accurate election?
We are deeply enmeshed in a thick and treacherous bog of poor decision-making. By the end of my angry rant on the balcony, I had convinced my friend to leave the Democratic Party.
Then it occurred to me. Maybe we don’t even need a party to know how we feel about policies, rights, and the future of America. Maybe what we need is, as I tell the children I tutor, a little brainstorming, a little outline, a little rough draft, a lot of editing, and a cohesive, passionate, coherent argument from the Democratic Party that we can be proud of.
Otherwise, Nader here we come.
