Rick Raw: Political Conventions–Epicenters of Rabble Rousing Tongue Wagging

By Rick Grant rickgrant01@comcast.net www.rickatnight.com

Now that hordes of politicos, fat cat lobbists, publicity grabbing celebrities, and party animals are descending on Denver for the Democratic Convention, it’s a good time to consider why on earth we still have these rabble rousing spectacles of self serving political tongue wagging in the first place.

In the beginning of our country’s democratic process, the political convention was a gathering of the party to actually nominate their candidate. The convention was held for the same reason we have an Electoral College–the power was in the hands of the politicians in Washington that had representatives of the masses (the Electoral College) who may or may not have had enough sense to know who was a good choice for president.

As the years went by, and America evolved into an industrial nation, the power shifted back to the people, assuming we were no longer a gaggle ignorant farmers wearing overalls and chewing tobacco, who didn’t know a candidate from his mule.

Now of course, we have the primary system to thin the herd of candidates into one glorious person who will lead us from the folly of the incumbent. In some states they still have "caucuses" which gathers a group of people into a small forum for deciding which candidate has the best hair or is not having a torrid affair with his documentary filmmaker chick. Oh yes, it’s still a strange and mystifying process. For all I know they play spin the bottle and swap wives in those caucuses.

So what the heck do they do at today’s conventions if not nominate the party’s candidate? Well, they do a lot of schmoozing, drinking., and canoodling, but the real purpose of the convention is to offer party members a chance to gather together to discuss the party’s platform. The platform is the party’s stance on the political issues. In the case of today’s Democratic Convention in Denver, the party’s platform is undoing everything W did in his eight years of screwing up the economy, spending billions of dollars on the Iraq War, running up the deficit to over 9 trillion dollars, and making the United States a debtor nation dependent on foreign oil.

In theory, conventions bring the party’s movers and shakers together to discuss important matters. But in reality, it’s just an excuse for a weeks’ round of parties with luminaries and celebrities and lots of networking (ass kissing). I doubt Bill Clinton will go up to Ted Kennedy and say, "Hey Ted, let’s talk about the platform." No, it’s more like Bill will be cruising for chicks and Ted will be taking it easy since he’s battling brain cancer. Hillary will be setting up her voting block for her run for president in 2012. So it’s hoopla galore, motivational speeches, consumption of alcohol products now owned by foreign companies, and impromptu sex in Denver’s four and five star hotels. Oh yeah, party like its 2012!

Protesters are always part of any convention’s tradition. Denver’s police have been building jails that look like cattle pens inside warehouses to lock-up the influx of protesters who are organized to get their message across. This gaggle of seedy looking people, who have no jobs, thus they have time to protest, represent every wacked out group imaginable from Save the Whales to Bring Back Flipper.

Over the years the protesters seem to emulate the original Yippie movement to End the War in Vietnam crazies who got beaten to a pulp at the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention. To rile up the riot police, the Denver Police Chief probably showed films of that debacle as an example of a protest that got out of hand when 10,000 protesters battled the police, soldiers, National Guardsmen, and Secret Service agents. Mob rule took over and all hell broke loose.

When the dust cleared, the melee was called a police riot with many casualties on each side. When viewing the films of this tragic event, the viewer will notice that the police had the clubs, guns, and tear gas and the Yippies were defenseless. The lesson is: Law enforcement agencies hate protesters and are just itching to beat them silly. But, the convention delegates do their partying and have their trysts despite the protests. And, our savior from the incumbent is crowned king until the election.