SBC Politics Not Wanted

04/30/2008

SBC = "Spoiled Brat Contract"


Paul Munnis


I have been watching with interest the polls that say if Democrats fail to select Candidate X as the Party endorsed candidate then they will vote for the GOP candidate instead of the Democratic Party endorsed candidate.

This is an attempt to intimidate the Democratic Party into selecting Candidate X and to force other Democrats to accept their choice of candidate. I have found no name for this approach to politics, it seems to be new, and so I have invented a name for it. I call it: “The Spoiled Brat Contract (SBC).”

Understanding what is meant by “Spoiled Brat,” is straightforward enough, it means that these people demand “My Way or the Highway. Nobody else matters. I want to have it my way or else I’ll take my marbles and go home.” What they are saying is that they will vote for Candidate X and if some other candidate is selected by the Party then they will not vote for them indeed they will do damage to the Democratic Party and vote for the opposition Party candidate.

They are trying to make a contract with the Party except that much of what is required for a contract is missing. For example they are anonymous, there is no written contract, and they are not held accountable and they are not traceable to see if they upheld their end of the contract. Also to do what they want every Democrat would have be told how to vote and then some sort of trace of how they voted would be needed so that every one who voted the other way would be punished. Thus for openers SBC has lousy contract terms and is not even enforceable.

As we look at SBC some more we then ask why the Democratic Party would want to enter into such a contract. We can find no reason except an assertion that their vote is so valuable that we would buy it in a desperate attempt at entering into a non-binding contract. This is something that the Democratic Party could never do and will never do. I don’t think the GOP would enter into an SBC either. In America the voting process is voluntary, it’s not subject to a contract, and the Party selection process is pretty well defined and is being tested to the hilt right now.

Another thing is that an SBC approach to selecting political candidates would destroy the Party and many who know this would work overtime to remove any Party head who attempted to sell the Party into such bondage.

So who are these people who are advocates for SBC?

I can’t find anyone who is a Democrat that would support entering into an SBC relationship with a fellow voter. I have asked my GOP friends if they think their Party would buy into An SBC arrangement and they just look at me as if I am asking them a dumb question. They understand the nature of the offer and they flat reject it.

For most Democrats the idea of declaring themselves a Democrat is one of committing themselves to a set of principles that guide the Party. Among them are found notions that Democrats are free to support or not support a candidate according to their conscience and that means that if they think that another candidate is superior to the endorsed candidate in the Party then they are free to vote for that candidate. We have primary elections established to select opposing candidates.

Being a Democrat is not to be a Party slave it’s to become a Party participant. Clearly those demanding SBC are not subscribers to such an ethos. They want it their way or no way. What they are offering is a notion of the Party as a strict father figure that punishes any who are errant from the Party line.

For those soliciting for an SBC I say “No Way!” I ask you to please go home, get lost, stop claiming that you are a Democrat, stop hanging around our Party and fouling the atmosphere and if you want to vote for the other Party then do that. I suspect that if Democrats adopt you we are allowing pollution of the worst kind to infect our Party so I say just “Go Away.” Pollute the opposition Party for we don’t want you or need you here. The opposition Party may not want you either come to think of it.

That’s my opinion for what its worth but it has not been approved by the Democratic or the Republican National Committees for I am not required to submit my opinions to them for approval and if I did they would be far too busy getting endorsed candidates elected to take the time to review this op-ed piece anyway.

Democrats have a job to do and SBC negotiators are not a part of our solution.