Mike’s Musings: Political conventions no longer serve a purpose

Dominating the airwaves this week is the Democratic National Convention. Three weeks it was the Republican National Convention. Despite a lot of pomp and circumstance, very little gets done at these four-day lovefests. In my opinion, they should no longer be a part of our political landscape.
When I was a cub reporter back in 1980, I had the fortune of attending the Republican convention in Detroit. At this convention Ronald Reagan, the governor of California was coronated do be the Republican candidate. He went on to defeat incumbent Jimmy Carter by a substantial margin even though independent candidate John Anderson from Illinois, siphoned for 6.6% of the votes.
But quite honestly not a lot has changed, since that convention 44 years. Because of primary elections, we already know who the presidential candidate is. We know the party’s platform as well. The convention only serves to the candidate’s peers to pay homage to him or her. To me it’s a way for like-minded individuals to come together to party.
It didn’t use to be that way. Back in the day conventions had a real purpose. Presidential candidates were actually chosen by the vote of the delegates at the convention. Delegates were chosen by the people, and their elections had meaning. They were important. Because they chose the presidential nominee. Now delegates are chosen by their party to represent them at the convention and make sure the chosen presidential candidate- the one who navigated the primary elections the best was named the nominee.
There no longer are any disputes. It’s been a long time since the chosen candidate has been challenged at a convention. All issues are decided ahead of time and the conventions have become carefully choreographed extravaganzas to promote the particular party’s candidate and vision. Heck this year’s Democratic convention hired Hollywood’s most famous director, Stephen Spielberg to choreograph this year’s 4-day affair.
That kinda tells you all you need to know. Conventions are now a made-for-television special, that either party hopes they can get millions of people watching their spectacle. It’s got nothing to do with selecting our next president. It has everything to do with TV ratings.
Why TV networks, both cable and legacy, devote massive coverage to these spectacles is beyond me. If they didn’t they would go away, but for some reason, they see entertainment value in what the lowly congressman from Rhode Island has to say in his 15 minute speech praising Trump.
Maybe I’m a sourpuss but I’d much rather watch a Spanish movie on Netflix. I spend a lot of time on the internet and social media to familiarize myself with the presidential candidates (lets not forget RFK) and don’t need a prime time television extravaganza four nights in a row to tell my brain who I should be voting for.
Take conventions for what they are, poor entertainment. To me the boring speeches interspersed with a 25-year-old song performed by Kid Rock, just doesn’t do much for me. One can get all the political goobly-gop they want from cable television or X. We don’t need to hear it for four straight days on legacy networks.