Conventional Wisdom

Once again we find ourselves deep in the election season, facing political conventions by the two major parties. The Democrats are up first. And I find myself wondering why anyone bothers with the actual conventions...we all know who the two nominees will be, we know who the Democrats are putting up for Vice President and will almost certainly know the Republican VP candidate before that convention, we know who the principal speakers will be and I don’t expect what they say to pack any major surprises.

So what’s the point of the convention, anyway? Is it just to give the speakers a place to speak? Is it an excuse to show the candidate(s) before the public? Is it all a stage for some grand political pageant? Is it a small lump of sentient green putty from another galaxy stranded in Tulsa, Oklahoma over Labor Day weekend? The truth is, it’s all of the above (except for the putty thing). Basically, it’s theater. It’s all a show.

There was a chance, up until a few weeks ago, that the quest for a democratic candidate might be finally settled at the convention itself, but as it happened no one really wanted that much drama and it appeared that the Powers That Be in the Democratic Party were going to do everything necessary to settle the matter before the show.

Even the party malcontents (this year it’s the supporters of Hillary Clinton) are playing their assigned parts, attempting to "disrupt" the convention process in a formally scripted way that should make good theater even if it doesn’t make a bit of difference. They’ll have their ballot, lose it, and become (mostly) reluctant supporters of Barack Obama. How can they do otherwise, with Hillary Clinton herself supporting Obama? And yes, her role at the convention is as well scripted as anyone’s.

So what, I ask, is the point? The candidates have been selected, the players are on stage, and the curtain is about to rise, but what the Hell is the point? The convention certainly isn’t necessary.
It does, however, do a couple of things. It gives commentators and pundits a chance to earn a living, for one thing. For another, it gives TV news networks themselves a justification for their continued existence beyond just reporting the news that actually matters. Are the conventions more for them than they are for us? Maybe.

Another thing that the convention does is to take the decisions made behind closed doors and present them in such a way that we don’t realize that they were made behind closed doors. Think about it; "we the people" don’t actually get a say in who becomes vice president, or in whatever deals are made to secure nominations between contentious parties, or to gain the cooperation of rebellious factions within the party.

Perhaps that is the real reason for the convention’s existence; to provide a framework for these "backroom" deals while still concealing their existence from the rest of us.

Conventions were a different sort of beast, once upon a time. Candidates were actually selected at conventions in the past. Television eventually changed all that. Now the theatrical aspect has taken over.

The Blues Viking

The opinions here expressed are mine and if you don’t like them you can get your own damn blog.