For the sake of the Dems, the delegates in Florida and Michigan should NOT be counted at the DNC.

I see one main area where we differ in this debate and that is in retroactive decision making and in proactive decision making. The DNC has already stated that the states that move up their primaries too far ahead will not get any delegates. The Republicans did not state this. They stated that there would be a punishment and a blanket punishment was that the states that moved their primaries ahead lost half of their delegates. The major difference in these two parties responses is that the Republicans never stated that all the delegates would be lost though the DNC has. That is what maes the situation different for the two parties and incomparable for this issue. Had the DNC not already stated the punishment then fairly punishing a state might work. Since the punishment was already stated, any retracting of punishment looks weak and makes it look like the party is pandering to get votes. And what type of big brother relationship are you referring to between the parties and the states. The parties make simple administrative rules in order to function that don't infringe on that much liberty. A state purposefully broke the rules so they are punished. What is so Orwellian about that. I agree that in policy debate if you prove a median option you would win the debate. But on here it is convincing others that wins debate and bringing up jargon and saying "I win b/c i don't need to argue your antithesis etc. doesn't help convince people. You sounded like a whiny fourth grader there, no offence. I still argue that the median option is terrible. If we held primaries again, which we can't due to cost, we disenfranchise so many voters that cannot participate before the nomination. Absentee voters, military voters, and others who cannot get time off or their vote cast. BTW the entire DNC's surplus funds won't even pay for Florida reholding a primary. Where is this money going to come from, lala land? Plus we disenfranchise voters who won't vote b/c they already did (protest voters). And we don't give the candidates time to campaign in the state so we still have the same bias as before w/ the better known nominee (which is still Clinton) having a huge advantage. We cannot hold the primary again w/o silencing many people's voices. We cannot undo the stated punishment lest the party look weak and that it is pandering to voters. There is no median option. There is count or do not count. I hope I have proven that counting the delegates is suicidal. Reholding the primaries is not effective at this point due to cost, disenfranchisement, and simply time and fairness. We still get state by state anarchy as states can now compare whether the punishment is worth the cost of losing some delegates. If this happens the primary season will drastically change and as stated in my opening argument, we lose the benefits having small states go first bestow upon us. The DNC was dumb in its punishment of Florida and Michigan. Retracting their STATED punishment now allots to political suicide. States must follow certain rules for a party to function. If the rules need not be followed anarchy occurs. In the interest of fairness and utility we should not count the MI and FL delegates unless they follow the rules. There is no median option and the republican party is not comparable to the DNC here as stated above. This is where we differ the most and I hope you can follow my description of the inherent difference. Good luck and good debate.