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Should Michigan and Florida Hold New Primary Elections? OF COURSE!!!

More Than Just Presidential Nominee Now Up in Air in Michigan

March 6, 2008       Leave a Comment
By: Dave Rogers

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For once I agree with Bill O'Reilly who says allowing the delegates from Michigan and Florida to be seated as presently constituted is very dangerous.
 

Michigan now is facing perhaps the most crucial period in its 170 year history.

The state is at the vortex of a national crisis over the Presidential primary election, with the decision on a leader for the next four years certainly at stake.

Whether that leader will be John McCain, Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama may be determined by what happens in Michigan, and Florida, in the next few months.

And on that choice hinges which way the nation will treat the citizens of its rust belt midsection who have seen jobs vanish overseas because of trade policies and globalization.

Should new Presidential primary elections be held in Michigan and Florida?

OF COURSE!

Why?

Because Jan. 15 when the first vote here was held, is ancient history. And, it was a flawed election because Barack Obama was not on the ballot and there was no campaign.


For once I agree with Bill O'Reilly who says allowing the delegates from Michigan and Florida to be seated as presently constituted is very dangerous. He points to the 1968 Democratic Convention that erupted in violence and predicts that Rev. Al Sharpton and other firebrands will cause trouble in Denver in August if there is a perception of unfairness in the delegate selection process.

Today Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida, a Republican, and Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat, issued a rare joint news release urging the national party committees to seat the delegates of both states:

"The right to vote is at the very foundation of our democracy. This primary season, voters have turned out in record numbers to exercise that right, and it is reprehensible that anyone would seek to silence the voices of 5,163,271 Americans. It is intolerable that the national political parties have denied the citizens of Michigan and Florida their votes and voices at their respective national conventions.

"According to the DNC and RNC, Michigan and Florida have violated party rules by moving up their primaries. Today, we each will call upon our respective state and national party chairs to resolve this matter and to ensure that the voters of Michigan and Florida are full participants in the formal selection of their parties' nominees. We must restore the rights of the more than 5 million voters whose voices have been silenced."

This is a bald-faced conspiratorial attempt to unfairly secure the nomination for Mrs. Clinton, which both governors want for different reasons. Crist would rather that John McCain run against Mrs. Clinton because the Republicans think she would be easier to beat. And, he is on the short list to be McCain's vice presidential running mate. Ms. Granholm just wants Hillary to be President and is willing to take a chance on her beating McCain.

The governors are wrong: the 5 million voters of Michigan and Florida have not spoken in a process that follows democratic principles. That is because there was no campaign and one of the key candidates was not even on the ballot. Shame on them for attempting to perpetrate that travesty on the voters!

Dangers and violence are already rising. Every day we see a new outbreak, or shootings, many on campuses. A bomb was thrown Thursday in the world's busiest neighborhood, Times Square. The target was a military recruiting office. Bomb-making equipment is being discovered, threats are being made without any particular reason. Are perhaps political and economic tensions at the root of this violence? Does this sound like the Vietnam era all over again? How does the war in the Middle East play into all of this?

Now, regarding Michigan's future, an issue that should be foremost on our minds as we ponder political choices.

John McCain says "those jobs aren't coming back."

Barack Obama says "maybe we can save those jobs with changed trade policies."

Hillary Clinton says: "who knows?"

We know pretty well where McCain stands and he admits he is not well-versed on economic issues, except to be an aggressive tax cutter and control wasteful "earmarks," (not a bad start) but at the same time we have seen nothing substantial in the way of plans to revive the economy of the Midwest from either Obama or Mrs. Clinton.

Mrs. Clinton's complaint that Mr. Obama's campaign was talking to the Canadians about NAFTA would have been more interesting if he had been talking to the country that affects us much more -- Mexico.

The whole issue really was irrelevant because both candidates have said without reservation that they will scrap NAFTA if the partners don't agree to amendments. I guess that begs the question: what amendments will they propose? And how tough will they really be?

Ohio's Democratic super-delegates are reportedly withholding any decision on which candidate to support until they hear concrete plans for bringing back jobs. Michigan supers should follow suit, in our opinion.

This situation really leaves the voters of Michigan dangling with no clear choice. If I'm an unemployed or under-employed family head do I stay in Michigan and hope for the best or do I, as they say in Washington every day, "cut and run?"

In a way, delaying a decision on the candidate and allowing time for the issues to crystallize and more facts to come out is a good thing.

The whole Clinton vs. Obama argument really should boil down to who did Bill Clinton accept money from in the past eight years? Who donated to his library fund and what are their motives? And where does Hillary stand on continuing the job drain to China created by Wal-Mart, on whose board she sat for years?

Jennifer Granholm should be more concerned about the economic issues that will affect Michigan than whether or not the first woman is elected President. And shouldn't we all have the same concerns?

If former President Clinton accepted money from foreign governments or companies with ties to countries that are engaged in unfair trade or currency policies, we need to know. And now!

Unfortunately, the Clintons are not forthcoming with their tax returns or donation reports that will give us that pertinent information.

And if Obama accepted money from a Chicago shyster, we need to know that, too, because it speaks to his credibility. And credibility is not secured in the minds of Americans by attack ads or innuendo.

Even Obama's poor old Gramma living in a hut in Africa could see the unfairness of Hillary's "hemming and hawing" on whether or not he was a Muslim. She says clearly he isn't, and you can't argue with Gramma. But we need time to sort out all those details, too, and make decisions based on facts.

Make no mistake, this crisis if for real and is happening now. Every day another business closes because of population losses. When people can't find jobs, they move elsewhere. And something has to suffer.

Craig Ruff of Public Sector Consultants in Lansing has commented that spending $25 million on a re-do of the Presidential primary might be money well spent because it would draw multi-millions of dollars from the media coming here to cover the new voting.

He even suggested the Michigan Economic Development Commission (MEDC) might be well advised to put up the cash. You know, those are the folks spending millions to put actor Jeff Daniels on television nationwide with ads touting "Michigan can give you the upper hand."

The ad campaign illustrates the importance of public opinion in maintaining the state's economy.

Without confidence that Michigan is viable economically no company will make a crucial decision to move here.

Meanwhile, the political turmoil needs to be calmed so we can get about the business of supporting schools to turn out more graduates. Those graduates in other states are the heart of the economy. And we just don't have enough of them.

Michigan ranks 35th among the 50 states in the rate of people over 25 with college degrees. The state's rate of 22.3 percent is campared to Minnesota, with 39 percent of adults holding degrees. States surpassing Michigan in college graduates include Alaska, 24 percent; Arizona, 26 percent; California, 29.8 percent; Colorado,36 percent; Connecticut, 33.5 percent; Maryland and Massachusetts, each with more than 37 percent; and the leader, the District of Columbia, with 46.4 percent.

The U.S. average of 33 percent of adults with a college degree is surpassed by Britain, Norway and the Netherlands.

We have a long way to go to sort out these issues and move ahead with improving education. And the only way to do it is the democratic-republican way -- by voting!###

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Dave Rogers

Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read,
respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City.
(Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com)

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