Friday, August 29, 2008

The Political Party Convention

A political party's convention is a peculiar thing. I am here, not as a die-hard democrat, but rather as a someone who thinks that our country is at a tipping point in time and that we need to do something about it. I, like so many others, was inspired by Barack Obama. The reason that I wanted to be here in Denver was to witness history. But exactly what history is an interesting notion. Yes, Barack is the first African-American to be nominated by a major party. That is historic, and I am happy to have seen that, but I am skeptical that that will have a huge impact if he loses the general election. I remember reading about Shirley Chisolm in 8th grade government class, but it was like a footnote. I don't know what happens if Obama loses (in terms of history). The history that I think I am here to be a part of is something way beyond that. It's to be at the begining of a new way of thought and with a potentially transformational leader. It's Barack Obama's potential to be a great leader that drew me here. I'm talking Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy type leader. That's the history that I wanted to be a part of. So in many ways, this is just a begining.

So back to political party conventions. The Convention's role has clearly changed over the years. Now it's just a ratifying body for deals that have been brokered through the primary season. But it's still a Convention where Party business must be attended to. I am not really sure what that entails but it doesn't matter because the Party bureacracy cares. Where it becomes a bit murky is when the Party decided to use the Convention to incorporate "outsiders." I think that is a great thing. The entrenched two party system is as much a factor in bleeding confidence from government as any other. Reaching out to involve new people and "outsiders" is a good thing. Change typically comes from a challenger to the incumbent. If things are going to change, new people need to be involved. But when you use a Convention to faciliate new involvement it clashes with the old establishment incumbents.

We have heard complaints about how Congressional staffers and party insiders were unable to get credentials into the Convention this week because there were so many "outsiders" here. Clearly, Scott and I are "outsiders" and contributed to that a bit. But we're here because we were drawn. Moving the acceptance speech into a 75,000 seat football stadium clearly indicates that you want "outsiders" here. That tension between insiders and outsiders is something that I personally think needs to be removed from the Convention. Transparency is generally a good thing and somethinng that Barack Obama is campaigning on. It should start with the Convention. The idea that a small few decide everything for everyone is antithetical to democracy yet it has become the norm. And the small few have let it go to their heads. This Convention was outstanding as a way for the people to reassert their power. I was happy to experience at least a little bit of it.

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