The above picture is from Ronald Reagan's Presidential Convention in 1984, but you could really insert any one's name on the various signs and banners, and have the Democratic or Republican conventions from this year. Thousands of people gather together to assert that their candidate is the best and that he should be President of the United States. One can get lost in the bright colors and loud music, and one could even forget the real reason they're there to begin with. Don't worry this is not going to be a "political" post in which I try to persuade you to vote for candidate X or candidate Y, but it is going to be a political post in the sense that I have a real issue with the way in which the political process operates today.
Having been watching the DNC this past week, (this does not make me a democrat, as I'll be doing the same thing next week with the RNC) I noticed some very disturbing trends in the political process. I'll spare you the details of the paper I wrote in college, that I'll admit, I'm still pretty proud of, but I will tell you that the process by which the president is elected today is nothing like it was when this country was founded nor is it anything like it was even 50 years ago. For purposes of this post, however, I'll concentrate primarily on the conventions.
Presidential conventions used to be the place where delegates would come together and debate about who they thought should be president. We're talking actually discussions about policies and issues. On the first night of the convention a vote was held and the top vote getter's would move on to night two. Then more discussion occurred! The four day event was marked by heated debates, enlightening speeches, and the strong desire to move the country forward. On some occasions, the presidential nominee was not known until the last day of the convention, something completely unheard of in today's day and age.
The reasons for this stem from primaries being held earlier, more money in the hands of very few candidates, and the need to 'unify' the party earlier. But is that the best way to do it? Is unification of a party so important that we lose sight of the issues?
Today's conventions are essentially pep rallies! Delegates gather for four days and yell and scream and throw a party for a candidate that is already known. There is no debate, no discussion of what the party as a whole stands for...nothing! I can't tell you anymore about the democratic party's stand on the issues today, than I could of three days ago. How can voters be informed about the issues if no one every talks about them? If we already know who the candidate is going to be and we're not going to do anything except where stupid hats with donkeys and elephants on them, why bother even holding these? They have lost ALL their significance!
Tonight takes us to a whole new level. O'bama is going to give his acceptance speech, but really any speech he's given since July has been an acceptance speech, to a crowd of 70,000 people. I have serious issue with this. As stated above, some candidates did not know until the last night of the convention if they were the nominee (and everyone thought the Hilary/O'bama race lasted a long time). These candidates did not have the luxury of speaking large groups of people; there was no grand, elaborate venue with guest stars and loud music, it was just the candidate and the issues....the way it should be.
For those of you who made it to the end, I can't promise that there will be no more 'political' post in the near future, but I'll try and keep them to a minimum. Politics is a passion of mine and sometimes I just can't think of any better way to vent, than to write it all out...
Okay, I'm calming down and going to class.
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