Repairing fences -- and democracy

I spent the weekend replacing boards in the backyard fence, preparing for the hurricane season. Without more nails, and a few replacement boards, it was in serious danger of falling down. It took a lot of pounding, and my hands turned black, but now it is a solid fence again.

As I hammered, it occurred to me that under DeLay democracy has become as rickety as my backyard fence before the repair.

I thought about how Mr. DeLay stated in TIME and a Washington Post article that he deliberately set it up to keep any one of us who challenged him off the list of replacement names as the GOP candidate on the ballot. In other words, any of us who played by rules and ran against him is on the “blacklist.”

Is this “democracy”?

When an incumbent can punish those who played by the rules—and pick his replacement-- how is that a good example of democracy to show the Iraqis?

This is not about me – it is about the American democratic process. There are two other candidates who are also on that same blacklist. Is this fair?

Is democracy’s fence falling down? It is strong when incumbents can manipulate the process ? I guess the Iraqis only need look at District 22 to decide how to play the game? Let's hope not.

Think about it.