Comments on: The Rules in Florida & Michigan http://bligbi.com/2008/05/22/the-rules-in-florida-michigan/ The ramblings of a non-apologetic militant atheist mom doing time in the lonestar state on atheism, religion, feminism, politics and current events. Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:00:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: KC http://bligbi.com/2008/05/22/the-rules-in-florida-michigan/#comment-3344 KC Sat, 24 May 2008 19:04:00 +0000 http://bligbi.com/?p=1036#comment-3344 What these states did is cut in line. The appropriate response would be to send them to the back of the line. Kicking them out is an absurd overreaction sure to cause more problems than it solves as we are seeing (threatened protests at the convention, massive revenge/punishment voting and general ill will towards the DNC). As for undermining the rules by seating the delegates, I disagree. I don't remember what happened in Michigan, but Floridian Republicans are the ones that pushed through the date change and got the Democrats to agree by attaching something the Democrats wanted (getting rid of the touchscreen machines IIRC) to it. To me, this qualifies as a reason to exempt them from the rules without fundamentally undermining the rules. For example, we have rules against causing the death of other people with the general punishment being imprisonment for a set length of time. Failing to put <i>everyone</i> who causes another's death in prison does not undermine the rules against killing others for there are reasonable exceptions to those rules such as self-defense. What these states did is cut in line. The appropriate response would be to send them to the back of the line. Kicking them out is an absurd overreaction sure to cause more problems than it solves as we are seeing (threatened protests at the convention, massive revenge/punishment voting and general ill will towards the DNC).

As for undermining the rules by seating the delegates, I disagree. I don’t remember what happened in Michigan, but Floridian Republicans are the ones that pushed through the date change and got the Democrats to agree by attaching something the Democrats wanted (getting rid of the touchscreen machines IIRC) to it. To me, this qualifies as a reason to exempt them from the rules without fundamentally undermining the rules.

For example, we have rules against causing the death of other people with the general punishment being imprisonment for a set length of time. Failing to put everyone who causes another’s death in prison does not undermine the rules against killing others for there are reasonable exceptions to those rules such as self-defense.

]]> By: vjack http://bligbi.com/2008/05/22/the-rules-in-florida-michigan/#comment-3342 vjack Fri, 23 May 2008 13:57:25 +0000 http://bligbi.com/?p=1036#comment-3342 But the two states did break the rules. To seat their delegates could send a message to other states that they can break the DNC rules without consequences. But the two states did break the rules. To seat their delegates could send a message to other states that they can break the DNC rules without consequences.

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