Formalities

I'm counting...okay, this is the 9th Presidential year I've been around for...and the 7th I remember with some clarity. (I don't remember either of Reagan's - was only an infant in 1980 and too interested in Mary Lou Retton in 1984 to care who was President.) But I very clearly remember being at Wal-mart with my dad in 1988 and handing out things so people would vote for George Bush. My interest in politics has grown since I was eight, but not to the point I have ever watched a convention. This was the first I ever heard role call - and only because my boss had it on in his office. And in all honesty? I could have skipped it.

Why? Because everyone in the world already knew Mitt Romney would win the nomination with Paul Ryan as his running mate. Why we even have delegates or role call is anyone's guess. Tradition? Because ever since primaries began, there's no reason for conventions to send delegates or call roles. (Unless they want to determine all 50 states are still in the Union - and the territories, I discovered - and, in case you're wondering, all are present and accounted for.) Because who gets the nomination is already determined months before conventions start. And in my opinion, that ruins it.

I didn't keep up, I confess. What the whole fiasco over rule changes was truly about, I don't know. And maybe it was important if it had to do with the platform and how it's determined. But as far as a candidate goes, that was already settled. And, honestly, platforms aren't written in concrete either. What president - Democrat or Republican - has ever kept their party's platform once they're President? To my knowledge, none.

No, conventions are no longer interesting in my opinion. I'd much rather live a hundred years ago when conventions really did determine who the candidates would be (before primaries). Like James Garfield. He went to the Republican convention as a delegate in 1880 where he was to introduce the man everyone thought would be the candidate of the year. And he did his duty. Only the first role call didn't garner the man enough delegates. Nor did the second. Or the third. There was a deadlock between several major candidates and also a few other names tossed in there. On the 34th ballot, a a majority of a state took up the cry of what had been a single man's vote: James Garfield. A man who had no intention of becoming the Republican candidate, let alone President. Two ballots later, James Garfield was declared the Republican candidate for US President, an office he would achieve five months later.

Now that's a convention I would watch.