Let’s start here – I’m a Floridian and a voter. I’ve missed one vote in my entire adult life spanning 30 some odd years. I’m on the mailing list for the Florida Democratic Party and received an email from Karen Thurman yesterday with this lead line - It's great night to be a Florida Democrat! Now, I may just be in a grumpy mood this morning with a very low tolerance for a breakfast bowl full of crap but this was my reply to them.
Actually, last night sucked to be a Democrat. I think it was last century my vote actually counted for anything. Our voting system is broken, the electronic machines we rely on are not secure, the companies that control them are beholden to the Republican Party, the Democrats (Ion Sanchez excepted) have been spineless. My optical scanner in Gadsden county broke down after 368 votes were counted, the rest of the ballots placed in the box for later review. We have no delegates being counted at the convention. We had no candidates in our state asking for our vote. We have the national media (controlled by Republicans) actively engaging in trying to select our candidates for us with selective news stories. We have a majority of Democrats in Washington DC who are afraid to cross the Republican agenda, who will not stand up for our Constitutional Liberties (Thank you, Chris Dodd), who are afraid to stand up for the people's agenda.
I would like to see us evolve into a campaign season followed by a single primary day where everyone decides who the candidate will be. I have been a Floridian all my life and haven't ever had a full pallet of candidates to choose from. It sucks.
And to top off this day, Edwards is leaving the race. He spoke to every issue that I feel so strongly about...in fact he spoke of issues! How remarkable is that? I can't stand a world where his kind of passion for real people and honesty is so lightly regarded. Sucks, sucks, sucks.