We are about to give up a core argument that has a been bedrock of the progressive renaissance: that all votes should be counted and all votes should count.
The dirty little secret in Washington DC is that the effort to do a revote in Florida and Michigan have been hampered by inter-Democratic partisanship that has been taken advantage of by Republican officeholders in those states.
The silence on this issue from progressives is deafening. Cyber progressives, who I define as those that are largely informed and represented by the progressive blogosphere, have decided that the benefit of denying any slim opportunity for Hillary Clinton is worth shedding the principle of inner part democracy. Progressives outside the blogosphere are largely not informed at all about the issue.
I cannot imagine the outcry from cyber-progressives if Barrack Obama wanted the revotes in Florida and Michigan to take place and Clinton was standing still.
I can see the cyber headlines: "HILLARY DENIES HISTORIC MINORITY VOTE" "CLINTON DENIES CIVIL RIGHTS ACT" "CLINTON PULLING PARTY APART" (Oops we have already seen that last one in other contexts) .
But such Internet headlines are nowhere to be found now that Clinton fights for a re-vote (definitely allowed within the current rules) and Obama stands still. It appears that principles in the era of new transcendent politics serve as bludgeons to be used when your opponent does not live up to them and trash to be disposed of when victory is within your candidates reach.
I am under no illusion about Senator Clinton's motivation. This fight is fueled by Clinton's presidential interests. However the principle of one person one vote is vital to our party. The principle is vital to our country. If we as progressives stand still and do not act to promote a revote our failure will haunt our movement more than any statement of any surrogate, spiritual adviser, or political consultant ever could. All of the former have made statements that have thrown progressives into hand wringing cyber-orgies. Yet the damage of those statements will become diluted before the general election while the stain of our inability to coalesce around a revote for Florida and Michigan may become deeply embedded.
In order to win the White House we have already ignored a multitude of political sins from both of our final candidates. Compromises of our convictions are tough but apparently acceptable to the new politic. However not allowing a full accounting of our fellow party members in an attempt to gain the White House for a single candidate may well be giving up more than it is worth. One in four Democrats in Florida have already said that they will not vote in the general election if they can't count in the primary. In the end we will not win the White House without our own base to build upon and we will have lost our moral authority in the process.
Mario Solis-Marich is the Founding Editor of MYLATINONEWS.COM and can be heard Monday through Friday on www.gotomario.com.