Democrats and Florida

Am I the only one completely confused? The Florida State Legislature passed a law moving the state's primary elections to February. Howard Dean, the exemplary proven leader who heads up the Democratic National Convention decides that this is counter to their rules. He and they decide that none of the Democratic candidates can campaign in Florida nor will the Florida Democratic delegation be seated at the convention. The poor Democrats living in Florida are caught between a Republican controlled state legislature who passed a valid statute and a private organization that purports to represent the Democratic Party. The result is that all Democrats living in Florida may as well live in Iraq when it comes to excercizing their democratic right to vote. Now I have been kicked under the bus enough times to know when I am looking up at the bottom of a bus. Except this time I see Howard Dean smiling down at me from the bottom of the bus. As I followed the primaries it became clear to me that both parties pay far more attention to the so-called Independents. Luring them to one side or the other plays a major role in the party strategies and campaigns. Suddenly the thought occurred to me that if I did not want my vote to count in a Florida primary election I should be an Independent, because Florida being a closed primary state only voters registered in a party can vote for that party. Hell, from under the bus the future course was written in glyphs that even our president could understand; register as a Florida Independent because if one is going to be denied representation as a registered party member, then why not kick that party to the curb? So I ran down to the local voters to change my registration to that of an Independent. Aha!!! What did I find, a line longer than that at the last election of folks who came to the same conclusion that I did. So the urinating contest between the DNC and the State of Florida could very well result in a huge shift in the number of registered Democrats. Is it any wonder? I think not.