A Lesson in Sour Grapes

Lately I’ve been reminded of a lesson I learned as an Army Officer and its applicability to the debate over whether Nebraska should go back to winner-take-all rules for the Electoral College.

The Mechanized Infantry Division I was assigned to in Germany conducted unannounced equipment readiness inspections. The inspections were done by a special team created by diverting specialists from normal unit assignments.  The Division had two versions of the inspection, a one day and a week long. The Division would call at a very early hour (commonly referred to as O Dark Thirty) in the morning and tell the selected unit the team was coming. Imagine getting a call before dawn at your house and being told you’re going to have a root canal that will either last one day or one week. You now have an idea of how the news was received.

The reasons for the feelings towards this inspection were centered on what was perceived as the unreasonable depth of detail and the fact so very, very few units passed. In fact, there was an occasion where a unit failed the inspection one week and then was put on alert the next. The unit was able to roll everything they had out the gate and was ready to fight. In short, real resentment existed over the perceived difference between the standards being imposed vs. the real world standards required.

I was venting about these thoughts to my Battalion Executive Officer (XO) and adding my opinion the team was justifying its own existence so it wouldn’t have to be re-assigned to actual units and do the real work that needed to be done. The XO (a man with a doctorate degree who today is President of a public university) agreed with my complaints but offered a different perspective.

He said complaining about the team and the inspection would not be taken seriously if the complaints were coming from those who failed the inspection. Instead, complaints would be regarded as sour grapes from the losers who wanted standards to match their low level of performance. Once you pass the inspection, he told me, you earn the right to criticize the system, but not before.

 So when I hear complaints about Nebraska’s split Electoral Ballot system and how the state needs to go back to the same winner take all system used in the other 48 states, the thought I have is I’m listening to sour grapes. Perhaps instead of Nebraska changing to be like the majority, the majority needs to change to be like Nebraska.

In fact, I would argue not only that the other states need to change to Nebraska and Maine’s system, but that the states go a step farther and allocate electors based on the percentage of the popular vote within the states. Had that system been in place in this last election, we would have had a result more clearly reflecting how close the election really was.

Unfortunately, the reaction of Nebraska Republicans to this matter seems to reflect a desire to perpetuate what could be seen as a form of voter suppression. The underlying thought seems to reflect a “How you gonna keep ‘em down on the farm after they’ve seen Paree” mentality. In other words, letting a group of people other than people who think like you realize enough of them exist to have political power cannot be allowed. That might spread elsewhere in the state. We can’t have that. Let’s nip that in the bud by overpowering the Second Congressional District’s numbers with the rest of the state’s numbers.

It is, in short, sour grapes.

By the way, the Battalion I was part of became the first unit of its kind in the Division to pass the week long unannounced inspection. Maybe our success had something to do with the fact we started focusing how to have success instead of complaining about failing. Maybe Nebraska Republicans need to make the same change.

Sam Hunter’s Martin Luther King Day Message

Please look on my Blog for a special message from Sam Hunter about what this Martin Luther King Day means to him and the community at large. I know you’ll find it compelling, as I did.

Sam will be on KFAB on Monday, January 19, 2009 in the 8:00 a.m. hour. KFAB broadcasts from Omaha  on 1110 AM and they stream live at www.KFAB.com.