Blogging For Voter Justice

As the title of today's post suggests, I am going to talk about justice.  Justice for voters.  Justice for Americans.

For many people, when you speak of justice, they have notions of fair trials, due process, adherence to laws and the Constitution.  In this instance I am going to talk about something a little different.  Today, I am going to discuss mathematics and it's potential for political injustice.

Most Americans of my own political bent...meaning Democrats or independents who are leaning towards the Democrats in this election cycle, are beginning to tire of the fight between Senator Clinton and Senator Obama for the Presidential nomination of the Democratic party.   I count myself among them.

Many of you know that my first choice for the Democratic nomination was Representative Dennis Kucinich.  Representative Kucinich's core policy postions closely match my own concerns, and I would have gladly voted for him, given the chance, but guess what, friends?  The math went against Mr Kucinich, and he is no longer in the race.  Indeed, the math also went against Senators Biden & Dodd, a Governor Richardson, who are likewise, no longer in the race.

What does any of this have to do with math?  Simply this:  if you get more votes, you win more races, and the various candidates get winnowed down to the one that ends up with the nomination... but you knew that already, didn't you?  Of course you did, because you are rational intelligent human beings.

I wish all people were as rational as you, gentle reader.  There are those, abroad in the land, for whom mathematical facts are a bit more elusive.  One of those people is Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.  You see, when the facts of math go against a candidate, they usually, in a fair amount of time, figure out the improbability of success, and have the grace to back out of a race.  Not so with the junior Senator from New York. 

Sure, you know the math... HRC cannot win the the nomination of the Democratic party, even were she to Win EVERY primary race left before the Democratic convention with at least 60 percentage of the vote.

Did you get that?  Even if HRC wins every race with a 60% vote (which she has only done three times), she still loses.   Why is she still in the race then?  Well, thats a good question... let's look at a few possible answers.  Mrs Clinton is still in the race because she can still when if a few things happen:

1.  Barack Obama gets hit by a meteor.

2.  Barack Obama is kidnapped by aliens

3.  Barack Obama gets to the convention and says "Just kidding, I really didn't want to be President after all!"

4.  The Clintons muscle enough super-delegates to give her a victory.

A few of those scenarios are unlikely, but the likliest of all has the most dangerous implications.  In the fourth scenario, we see a large group of party activists deciding to thwart the votes of the party... actually handing the nomination to a person that didn't win it.  What do you think the likely outcome of such a scenario would be?

Shall I tell you the likely outcome?  It'll look something like this:

Millions of voters, furious that their votes were ignored, will be moved to stay home on election day... or worse, vote for the oppostion candidate out of spite, and John McCain becomes President.  Millions of voters furious that their legal, legitimate votes were disregarded, will abandon the Democratic party, and fracture it forever.

Don't think it can happen?  Watch... I'll speak more on this in the summer.

Because of the math of this race, it is prudent at this time that Senator Clinton suspend her candidacy.  No one could fault her for quitting now.  She has fought a game fight, and shown a resilliency that does her great honor and credit (even if her campaign conduct does not), but the time has come to face the math, if not the music. 

To remain is an act of hubris of the worst sort.