The Political Story

Sometimes your child needs a spanking (although a “time out” is far more trendy these days). It is never fun, and always causes drama… but it may just stop them burning themselves on the stove next time.

Michigan and Florida are whining about their pending punishment. Sure, they were warned that they’d lose their delegates if they ran their contests too early. Sure, they broke these rules. But no one seriously believes in consequences for actions anymore, do they?

There is an old Proverb that says “spare the rod, spoil the child”. Such sweet pieces of wisdom were written way before “political correctness” swept across our Western world. (There is also a Proverb about a nagging wife being like a tap going drip, drip, drip…) Just try saying one of those sentences out loud at your next dinner party.

The consequences (or rod, if you will) for running an early Primary couldn’t have been more clear. Michigan knew. Florida knew. Hillary knew. But here we are, several months later and we are seriously entertaining a discussion about whether or not they will be given their delegates back.

Yes, sometimes a parent overreacts and threatens a punishment they don’t ever intend to administer. Trouble arises when the child calls the parents bluff. “Are you REALLY going to tear my arms off in public?” they taunt. And perhaps Howard Dean overstepped the mark with his delegate threat. But it’s too late to second guess now. The threat was made, and it must be carried through. Why?

Because it is always a short term view of parenting that leads you to the conclusion that it is best not to punish. Sure, it saves having to deal with a wailing child in the supermarket, and you avoid the embarrassment and sideways glares from other shoppers. But the problem is, if you don’t follow through with a bit of metaphorical stick, the next time you hit the aisles, your kid is going to pull all the biscuits off the shelves again.

The question for the DNC is this: How do they want the states to behave in future nominating contests? If they expect them to fall in line next time, they had better follow through with the punishment. The Michigan and Floridian children may be causing a scene in public… But spoil the child this time, and just wait and see the carnage that follows in 4 or 8 years.