They say the Early Bird gets the Worm
But sometimes being Early can result in Complications
I and a friend went to the State Capital this last Saturday to watch the GOP State Central Committee in Action
One of the things they dealt with was the new Rule about Binding Delegates at the Caucus.
One issue that was explored was what to do if after the Caucuses a Candidate who had acquired enough votes to be allocated delegates dropped out
One of the members stated that it might look silly to stand up at the National Convention and cast votes for someone who was no longer running,
There is some truth to that
The RPI had submitted a plan to the RNC which addressed that.
The idea was to allocate the voters among the remaining candidates still running
At first glimpse that seems to have the appearance of Fairness
However the RNC returned that even if a candidate dropped out of a race their votes should still be bound and entered on the First Ballot.
I believe they are correct.
It does not matter if it looks silly to cast votes for someone who has withdrawn from a race,
Those ARE the ballots cast by the Voters.
There is a profound Matter of Ethics involved here
While on the surface it might appear fair to allocate the voters among those candidates that remain in the Race,
The Reality is NO ONE has the Right to decide who a voter would have voted for if their choices had been different.
In this respect the concept of "fairness" is wrong.
We have no way of knowing if the Voters would have spread evenly among the remaining candidates.
They might very well ALL or MOST have moved to ONE Candidate they felt was closest to their origninal choice,
That CAN be the Price of Early
Just like someone who fills out an Absentee Ballot as soon as possible
If their candidate drops out before the Election, a Primary say.
Who They voted for is who they voted for
There is no way to determine how they would have voted if they had to choose between those left in the Race,
So it is for Iowa
If the possiblity of a large number of Caucus Votes going to candidates who drop out before the Convention is a matter of Great Concern?
Then we should abstain from being First in the Nation,
If we wish to be First in the Nation
Then we must accept
The Price of Early
Updated: Tuesday, 30 June 2015 8:05 AM CDT
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