Correct me if I am wrong, but isn’t the primary intent of a Democratic or Republican convention for each Party to “officially” nominate their presidential candidate? Does there have to be so much fanfare around the whole event? Can it just be a one-day event, and be done with it?
I remember being an early teen, and sitting with my parents, watching both the Democratic and Republican conventions on TV, on ABC, NBC or CBS. Apparently, they had never been to a High School pep rally or an Amway convention, because they were most definitely “into it”.
Since then, I have seen my share of high school and college pep rallies, not to mention Amway and Pre-Paid Legal rallies as well. I had thought that the Democratic National Convention would hold my interest on CSPAN. Unfortunately, the Dem. Convention held my interest for only a short periods of time.
The first conventions were held in 1856, prior to the threat of impending civil war. That was in the days before mass media. Obviously, that time period was before the internet, cable TV, television, or radio. Information simply did not spread through out the nation as quickly as by today’s standards. It may take days before a particular candidate’s or Party’s beliefs were made known to the voting public. For that time period, I can see where an individual Party would want to assemble representatives of their Party from individual States, so that the information could be conveyed live, in real time.
Today, information is conveyed in near-real time. The time in which information is conveyed to the public has shrunk from “days”, to a matter of minutes.
The primary reason why the Democratic convention only held my interest for short periods of time was bi-fold. First of all, a lot of the information that I was hearing from individual speakers, I already knew, from various news sources. Was there really a need to regurgitate that information a second time? We don’t need to reserve an entire week, at taxpayer’s expense, to re-convey information that is already readily available. Secondly, the whole “pep rally” mood, to me, was completely irrelevant. Geez, just nominate Kerry and be done with it already!
“…at taxpayer’s expense…”
The fec.gov site states “Each major party is entitled to a public grant of $4 million (plus cost-of-living adjustment) to finance its Presidential nominating convention.” That amounts to an $8 million grant for both Democratic and Republican conventions. Some individuals may make the argument that this money amounts to “pennies” for each individual taxpayer. Personally, I think that $8 million could be better used somewhere else….like say….education? We’re spending thousands of dollars for “falling balloons” and confetti, people!
Just nominate your candidate and be done with it!
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=49&aid=68171
http://www.fec.gov/info/chthree.htm
LLS