2/10/08
BETWEEN THE LINES
I am a worm. No, I am less than a worm; I am the dirt worms crawl upon. I am a formless amoeba. I am pond
scum, fish slime, bird droppings. I am the lowliest of all creatures who crawl upon the face of the earth. I am a
registered Florida Democrat.
There are four million others like me. We are the voiceless ones. We have no purpose of our own. Others with
voice and purpose use us, walk all over us, wipe their feet on us.
Powerful forces over which we have no control have rendered us irrelevant. We will not be counted. We are
utterly meaningless. We don't matter. Why don't we just go away and die.
They - the ones who decide, who have a voice, who are not pond scum - took away our voice. They decided
none of our delegates chosen in our presidential primary would be seated at the National Convention because
our Republican-controlled legislature moved our state primary up to January.
They forbade the candidates from campaigning here. They rendered our primary election meaningless.
They could have done what the Republicans did: allow candidates’ appearances and half the state’s delegates
to be seated. That would have made their point without rendering the primary election completely meaningless.
But no, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) wanted to make an example of Florida. They wanted to make
their point in a way no other state could miss.
They reduced Florida’s primary to nothing more than a straw poll. No candidates campaigned here. Well,
except for Hillary, for a couple of fundraisers and a victory rally (bending the rules if not quite breaking them).
Now she wants to use us because she likes the way our meaningless election turned out.
She pretends to care about us. She pretends to stand up for us. She says our voice should be heard, our
delegates seated. It's only coincidental that, in a tight race with Obama, Florida’s delegates along with Michigan’
s (the other disobedient child) could hand Hillary the nomination.
Does she think we were all born yesterday? Her self-serving righteous indignation on our behalf is an insult to
our intelligence. We are all diminished by her blatant manipulation disguised as concern. Why not just go ahead
and pour salt on our wounds?
Kick us while we are down. Run up the score over a beaten foe.
For who are we? We don't matter. We are lowly Florida Democrats; we are nothing.
When we complain, we are called whiners. You shouldn't have cheated, we are told. You shouldn't have moved
up your primary. You shouldn't have striven for relevancy.
Never mind that we, the voters, are not the ones who made that decision. How could we? We are mere
nobodies. We didn't cheat on anything; we have no control over such matters.
It was bad enough that we were reduced to the level of meaningless bystanders. Now we are further reduced to
the level of exploited meaningless bystanders.
First the results of our primary election are twisted by the fact of its irrelevancy, then one candidate wants to
use those twisted results to her advantage.
Is there no end to our debasement? Is there no end to our humiliation? Just use us and abuse us. Hit us, beat
us, make us write bad checks.
What are we to do, we the 4 million voiceless nobodies, the meaningless ones, the dirt of all voters? The DNC
says we can still have our voices heard if we hold statewide caucuses between now and June. They’re willing to
put up $800,000 of the estimated $4,000,000 such an undertaking would cost.
Our state Democratic National Convention delegation, dominated by Clinton supporters, says the DNC can take
a hike. They like the way our uncontested primary came out – a lopsided victory for Hillary. They don’t want a
do-over. They want to fight it out to the bitter end at the convention no matter how much it damages the
national party’s chances in November.
And we, the 4 million registered Florida Democrats, are reduced to the role of pawns in this travesty of
bastardized democracy. Once again, Florida is a laughing stock on the national political stage, the butt of jokes
delivered by late-night talk show hosts.
Go ahead, you who are not voiceless, you who are not without purpose. Feel free to abuse us. For who are
we? We are the lowest of the low. We are worms, amoebas, pond scum.
We are insignificant specks of dirt scraped from beneath the fingernails of the American electorate and swept
up into a dustpan. We are the voiceless ones. We are Florida Democrats. We are nothing.