some years I'm not even sure it qualifies as a party although silly hats are always in order.

I have a friend who was quite active in her state's Democratic primary this year.  One of the aspects of this activism which brought her the most joy was bringing new voters into the workings of the party.  She spoke glowingly about a young woman of whom she was exceptionally proud, although after all of her hard work the young woman had been disappointed to discover the reality of proportional voting.  The young woman was a Hillary supporter but I'm sure many supporters of Senator Obama who are new to the party must have been equally disappointed when they first understood the purpose of the super delegates; hell, a lot of long time Democrats were probably confounded when they discovered the existence of super delegates.  Add to the cauldron of proportional delegate distribution and super delegates, a few frog legs from Michigan and Florida and you soon see that the Democratic stew is anything but democratic.

Now I realize that just because an entity calls itself the Democratic Party is no reason that it has to operate democratically.  Essentially all political parties are units designed to consolidate power and politics is by its very nature an art of compromise; although it is one of those delightfully absurd Democratic Party contradictions that compromise with those outside the party is abhorrent while compromise of one's ideals within the party is a given. And, without a doubt, an organization with millions of members has to have rules and ways of enforcing those rules.  It's just that so many of the rules are for the good of those in power and so many of the ways of enforcing those rules punish those who have little or no power.  Take for instance disallowing the votes cast in the Michigan and Florida primaries: the people most hurt here were those who have just one vote and had that vote taken away from them.  Of course, only time will tell if the Democrats robbed themselves of votes in the national election the way they robbed the voters of Michigan and Florida in the primaries.

The Democratic Party having been around now for about two centuries and caring very little for anything I as an older woman and Hillary supporter think probably will take few - if any - of my suggestions for making itself more democratic to heart.  Therefore, I'm considering forming my own party in hopes of being on the ballot in 2012.  Following are a few of its rules the first of which is that there shall be only so many rules as required to ensure that the party remains truly democratic, the second rule will be the cardinal rule of all political parties, namely that the first rule can be changed at any time for any damn reason I choose.

Rule #3: We're all going to vote on the same day and it's going to be early enough that we get to enjoy the summer but late enough that we've had a thorough airing of the issues and time to visit the homes of each and every potential voter.

Rule #4: Everybody's vote is worth the same - one vote; if we have a tie, we'll flip a coin or possibly let everybody be on the ticket with each one getting to be president on a rotating basis.  If it looks like we're going to nominate someone who can't win, then, hey, we'll lose.

Rule #5: We will listen to the views of all of those who want to be in the party, even the stupid people with  ideas that don't match our own.  However, unrepentant racists of any color, chauvinists of either sex and/or people who use the word "myself" when the pronoun "I" should be used will be asked to leave the party.

Rule #6: At our convention we will try to remember that the old crochety people in the corner probably paid for the decorations so we should treat them with at least the semblance of respect and take them glasses of punch along with their meds. 

More rules to come later, at the moment I'm concentrating on finding a home base for the party - I'm thinking Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, someplace that everyone thinks is beautiful but only the intrepid will really visit and then there's the problem of a name.  I was thinking about the "No really, we're not kidding, we are the democratic party" but even the acronym is too long for a good t-shirt and without a t-shirt you have no proof you went to the party.