Shouldn't Democracy Matter?

In recent years -- and even today in Minnesota --we hear a lot from the Democrats about how every vote should count, and every voice should be heard.

And so it seems passing strange, doesn't it, that Democrats don't want to hold a special election for Obama's Senate seat. Could it be because, in the wake of the Blagojevich scandal, they're afraid they might lose?

And then there's New York. I have no problem with Caroline Kennedy taking the Senate seat she obviously wants -- as long as she earns it. If the people of New York want her to represent them, that's their choice. But for a dynasty to perpetuate itself through the dealmaking that's the modern equivalent of the old smoke filled rooms strikes me as positively anti-Democratic. Sort of like the political elites taking care of each other, while ignoring the interests and the wishes of the "common people."

And aren't Democrats (whose party name is actually derived from "democracy") supposed to be the party of the "common people"?

So, in circumstances these unusual, how 'bout letting the voters of Illinois and New York have a say in who their next senators will be?