Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
Parties Consider Virtual Conventions
The pandemic has affected politics in ways few have imagined. One of the foundations of the American electoral process is the nominating convention. These meetings of the great and not-so-good go back to the 1800s as political parties emerged from post-Revolutionary America. With that technology, face-to-face meetings were inevitably adopted. Today, those are dangerous to the health of all involved. So, both the Democrats and Republicans are considering holding virtual conventions, which will affect the election itself.
The Democrats are supposed to meet in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in July. The Republicans' convention is scheduled to be held in Charlotte, North Carolina in August. Given the models, the worst of the initial wave of the pandemic will have passed by June. It might be feasible, although not desirable from a medical standpoint, to hold them in person. However, the timeline gives the Republicans a few definite advantages. They have an extra month for the virus to burn down. They also will have a month to study what the Democrats did and to figure out how to avoid any mistakes as well as how to build on what worked if they opt for a virtual convention.
Perhaps the biggest advantage that a virtual convention gives the GOP, though, is the dampening one expects for the Democrats' message. In recent electoral cycles, the convention has been nothing more than a stage-managed, multi-night, prime-time ad for the party and the candidate. With hundreds of movers and shakers in the same arena, it has been a newsworthy event in the sense that interviews are easy and speeches make for decent TV. The question quite simply is whether the networks will cover a virtual convention at all. And if they do, how could it possibly rival the live version? Donald Trump's nominating convention in 2016 featured chants of "lock her up!" that defined the event in many ways. How could such an occurrence arise in a virtual convention?
For the Democrats, the fight still goes on between Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders, and given Mr. Sanders' track record, he won't yield until the convention votes. The concern with a virtual convention will be charges of cheating. Those who Feel the Bern have been given to complaining that the DNC and other establishment groups put their thumbs on the scale, and they are not wrong. But there is a difference between using the power one has within the rules and outright cheating. In a virtual convention, there are no norms, so everything is going to be open to the label cheating. The right-wing media will certainly play this up, and the risk of a divided convention failing to unite the party is real.
This journal still believes that the pandemic is a net loss for Mr. Trump and the Republicans. As things get worse (much worse), the incompetence of the administration will overcome any disorganization or disunity on the Democrats' side. Nevertheless, the conventions will be badly affected by the pandemic and to the advantage of the Republicans.
© Copyright 2020 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
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