Category: Blog

So, that?  Was a learning experience.  I can understand why some younger voters are frustrated by the system, and according to yesterday’s narrative, the Democrats are the good guys.

I (and thousands of my fellow delegates) sat in a cramped space that Steve characterized as “steerage” for hours, listening to some folks speak sensibly, while other folk blathered, and one guy had a screaming argument with the chair of the convention.  Why he wasn’t evicted, I don’t know.  Perhaps the convention had failed to appoint a sergeant-at-arms, or the facility’s bouncer was busy elsewhere.

Despite truly awe-inspiring levels of incompetence and general confusion, the convention did manage to get some work done.  You’ll have perhaps seen in media that the Maine Democrats have “abolished” their super-delegates,  which is kinda yes and kinda no.  For one thing, the super-delegate system remains in place for this election, as the majority of the convention could see no benefit to changing horses in mid-stream.  The new system, which does not abolish super-delegates, but requires them to cast their votes in accordance with the will of the popular vote, will not go into effect until the next presidential election, in 2020.

Two of Maine’s five super-delegates, in the spirit of this resolution, have said that they will vote the will of the convention. The other three remain committed to Mrs. Clinton, though Mr. Sanders won the popular vote in the state of Maine handily.

The people trying to sell the super-delegate system as a Good Thing took a Very Strange Path, IMHO.  They kept telling the members of the convention that the super-delegates were the check on the popular vote.  They are  political insiders with experience gained by years of being in the biz, and it is their job to be sure that the election goes “properly” — which I gather to mean “by the numbers” — thus they are apparently a force to prevent the nomination of a Democratic Donald Trump.  This was a bizarre strategy, given the tenor of the convention as a whole, and the presence of Very Many people who are just so very tired of establishment politics.

Mr. Barney Frank spoke for Mrs. Clinton, and he spoke well.  Sadly, he was heckled by boors, and again! the convention felt the lack of a sergeant-at-arms.  Mr. Frank’s purpose was clearly to persuade supporters of Mr. Sanders to vote for Mrs. Clinton when she secures the nomination, and once again his reason for knowing that Mrs. Clinton would win the nomination was “numbers.”  Which leads one to ask, “If this is Only a Numbers Game, why the freaking hell are we going through these shenanigans?” — but that could be Just Me.

Apparently, the convention also gained a delegate for Mr. Sanders from Mrs. Clinton’s side.  Maine will be sending 19 delegates in support of Mr. Sanders to the national convention; and 11 in support of Mrs. Clinton.

There was other work to be done — a list of amendments to the party platform was tabled earlier in the day and was picked up again in the evening session.  I, however, had collapsed into a quivering heap of jelly long, long before 7 pm, so the amendments had to make do without me.

So, as I said, a learning experience.  I will, I think, be joining the new Progressive Party when it is formed because, my ghod, the present system is. . .archaic and opaque, at best.

And now I am going to follow the advice of a trio of Very Wise Cats, and take a nap.

Today’s blog post brought to you by Bruce Springsteen, “Keep Your Eye on the Prize.”  Here’s your link.

So, the text of the talk I delivered at Ravencon is online, for your viewing pleasure.  Here’s your link.

Steve is shortly on his way to Portland to partake of the secret delights offered by the Maine State Democratic Convention; I will join him there tomorrow to do my duty as a delegate for Bernie Sanders.  Today, with luck and tailwind, I will finish the first draft of the story that’s due on May 15.

In the meantime, I am soliciting recommendations for novels that are. . .light-hearted. They don’t have to be comedies, but they do have to be. . .soothing and generally uplifting — along the lines of The Goblin King, or Uprooted.  I foresee finishing Karen Memory (which I’m enjoying very much) this weekend, and the books remaining on my TBR pile lean somewhat toward the Grim and Improving, which is not what I need to read right now.

And, now?  I am turning the internet off, in order to get with the as-yet nameless short story.

Everybody have a fun-filled Friday, ‘k?