Since When Is It Okay to Break the Rules?

I'm not entirely unhappy with the Democratic National Committee's compromise decision today to seat the Michigan and Florida delegates in Denver, though their votes only count for half. It's the only decision that still punishes Michigan and Florida for violating party rules and holding their primaries early, while still somewhat honoring the democratic process.

However, this whole situation has driven me slightly crazy, begging the question posed as the title of the post. Since when do these states have the right to break the rules? Lots of states wanted to hold their primaries early, but their Democratic party leaders honored the rules of the Committee of which they are a part. I find it mind-boggling that there is such a sense of entitlement from the Michigan and Florida electorates, with all of their big electoral votes, that they are somehow above the rules of their own party.

I'm not sure why the Democratic Party holds their state primaries and caucuses on the schedules they keep, but they have rules for a reason. To quote Walter Sobchak, John Goodman's character in The Big Lebowski, "This is not 'Nam, Smokey, this is bowling. There are rules."

As Americans, we have the stones to stick our noses in other peoples' business around the world, especially elections. And yet, in the past three election cycles, including this one, there have been gross and outright violations of our own sacred electoral processes. Florida (and 5 of 9 Supreme Court Justices) decided our president in 2000 after plenty of suspect shenanigans in a terribly close race. It came down to just Ohio in 2004. Now in another close race, certain members of the Democratic Party want to changes the rules to suit their own agendas. What right do we have to tell other people to play by certain rules, especially our rules, when we aren't capable of doing this ourselves?

I could digress now into a rant about condo associations, and an evil woman who is causing all sorts of grief in one of the associations in which I am involved. Just like the Democratic party leaders in Michigan and Florida, she violates the rules to suit herself. The difference is that she torments the rest of us about perceived violations of the same sets of rules, the hypocrite.

Condominimums are micro-democracies, and they are as miserable and corrupt as macro-democracies. Rules are the only thing that keep any semblance of order. When you sign up to be a part of something, whether it's a condo association, a political party, or an entire democracy, you have to honor those rules. Or you must be willing to pay the consequences of violating them. The lasting damage done by those who break the rules is the ill-will that these characters engender in everyone else who is just trying to play fair. All too often, we appease and placate those who willfully violate the rules, who destroy instead of build.

Maybe this the only thing to do, in terms of the greater good, but I'm calling bullshit on it nonetheless.