The greatest shows on earth?
Print Friendly Version| From Where I Stand by Joan Chittister, OSB | August 27, 2008 |
| Vol. 6, No. 7 |
In the interest of full disclosure, as they say, I will admit my collusion with showmanship at the very beginning of this article: The fact is that I watched the opening night of the Democratic Convention from 6:00 p.m. to midnight. But I'm not sure what I saw. Was this a solemn civic event or a political variation of "Entertainment Tonight?"
I'm a news freak, however, so I plan to watch the Republican Convention next week, too.
The problem is that I'm not sure why I'm watching either of them.
"The modern convention," as they have begun to be called, leads me to wonder whether or not we really have conventions at all anymore. At least in the conventional sense of the term. If urgent national business is being done there, we-the-people are neither seeing it nor being told about it. Worse, the business that used to be done there -- the nomination of a party candidate for the office of President of the United States of America -- has been done long ago and without benefit of convention. If it weren't for Hillary Clinton's insistence on the traditional roll call vote -- a practice ignored in recent conventions that is dismissive of the historical reality of a primary -- the whole essence of the electoral dimension of the convention would be forever lost to history. Let alone rethought and/or reconfirmed.
The also-ran task of nomination has been long a thing of the past. It was done on street corners and town halls from one end of the United States to another, by complicated arithmetical standards and with dazzling distinctions between counties and suburbs and voting districts. And when that didn't work, it was done by telephone and behind closed doors as "superdelegates" were hard-pressed by party leaders to declare their support before the election was actually over.
Finally, the nomination process was completed when party officials agreed before to admit to the convention in full force the delegates from Florida and Michigan whose votes they had refused to count in the primary.
Obviously the "modern convention" is not about selecting a candidate. So what are they doing in Denver and the Twin Cities? And why?
Are they really having a "convention," in the traditional sense of the word. Or are they simply having a cheerleading competition? And will we only know who won it when the final votes are counted in November? If, of course, the votes can be correctly counted even then. After all, thanks to the 10-year-old computer program error in election machines that has finally been admitted by officials of the company that makes them, Premier Election Solutions, once Diebold, Inc., the whole notion of precise vote counting is in at least as much doubt as it's ever been. Computers or no computers.
In the meantime, as we watch main stage entertainment and panels of journalists do "vox pop" talk in four dialects -- conservative, liberal, independent and undecided -- not a resolution is passed or a question raised to distract the viewing public from the scene of hoopla in the name of democracy. So much for "serious national discussions" about major issues.
The event is a panoply of speeches -- over 60 of them on the first day of the Democratic convention alone -- during which delegates, we can see, sweep through the hall likes schools of state fish. Given the usual running commentary that overrides the days, only snippets of each speech are available to the viewing public, despite the 17,000 reporters, editors, photographers and camera operators (Aspen Times, Aug.li 27, 2008) that crowd the place. Everyone, it seems, is simply passing time until the prime time speeches begin: the public vetting of Michelle Obama as presumptive First Lady; the battle cry from that valiant old lion Teddy Kennedy; and from Hillary Clinton, the task no failed male contender was expected to shoulder -- responsibility for party unity by the candidate who won the popular vote but lost the election.
In the meantime, while the cheerleading practice goes on inside the hall, Denver outside looks like a city under siege. Armed police stand in tight bands ready to do battle with citizens who would like to be part of what isn't going on.
In this highly touted technological world of ours, when major political news is being sent to wake people up at 3:00 a.m., you'd think we could do all of it some other way.
So why don't we?
Well, in the first place, the answer might well have something to do with capitalism, populist party or no populist party: The gathering of the faithful is a money tree for the cities that win the lottery to host the convention. The Democratic convention alone was budgeted at $40 million, then overran that by at least $10 million. Elections are cash cows these days. This one, some say, will cost close to a billion dollars before it's over.
Or, in the second place, maybe it's because both parties really are more about celebrity-making now than they are about the identification of seasoned civil servants and this is Oscar Night on CNN.
Whatever the underlying reason for such extravaganzas, you'd think that since all the business is apparently done elsewhere, we could have all watched the same thing, public and delegates alike, shot in front of three TV cameras in a large auditorium. And still had the same candidates.
From where I stand, there is no doubt that we are about to be treated to two weeks of political gala -- if anybody out there in voting land is really watching during the last week of summer vacation. All I know is that at least 20,000 delegates-to-Nothing plus the 20,000 or so others expected in tandem at both conventions will leave one big carbon footprint. Maybe that should be on the agenda. If there ever is an agenda again.
| Archives | Signup for Weekly E-mail |
What I find even more
What I find even more entertaining is the same righteous righters who blasted the writers of Murphy Brown for her unwed pregnancy are now extolling the virtue of Bristol Palin, and the same righteous righters who prattle on about the efficacy of Abstinence programs are now advocating shot gun weddings as the new solution to teen sex. At least the blue dress wearer didn't get pregnant.
http://enlightenedcatholicism-colkoch.blogspot.com
I thought that Hillary
I thought that Hillary should have gotten the Democratic nod. I do not go along with our democratic voice which I hear Barack Housein(The Blessed One) Obama's voice on the Human Life issue! I believe that every baby, who is created, whether it has the chance to live a week or a hundred years or more, has the right to live in this world of ours! I do NOT go along with his Kill the baby if the mother doesn't want it, or if a young girl gets pregnant, then that is O.K.! I believe in every human beings right to life! I like John McCain better and better! I like his views on LIFE as I watched the Saddleback convention! He even made mistakes like every human being. I have made many mistakes. But let God's light shine on him this week as he and Gov. Palin, go with their (Large) Christian familes and stand up to accept the Republican nomination. We need a fighter for there is so much coruption in not only the Republican party but the Democratic party also!
God has blessed them by not allowing GWB and DC in speaking on the first day of this very solemn convention because of the Hurricane! God is very wise and smart. He used his winds and rain and is allowing the truth of what America is all about to come to the first Republican Convention that I am looking forward to seeing! I watched the Democratic convention. I have to say something also. I was never for GWB! The reason being was I thought that Al Gore and John Kerry were much more to my liking as they had survived during a war, and they were against executions which GWB had shown TX and the whole world that he liked the power of death, because George Bush put this woman to death and she was proclaiming the Bible and she said that she would try to live for Jesus Christ and try to change the hearts of all of the prisoners, but what did he do? Well you got it! He killed her little voice. Jesus's voice is found in life! I know that as I have been so close to death several times! I had a stroke when I was only 31 years old,but my mother, father, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, and everyone whom my mother and father knew prayed for me! I was unconcious for 2 weeks and then they were sending me to another hospitals to see where the clot in the brain was. When I woke up about 3 weeks after the stroke the nurses were so happy they were shouting to the dr's, but I did not know what happened. After John McCain made his choice for the vp slot and after I heard her speak, I was truly convinced that God was listening to me! Then with the hurricane I won't have to listen to either the President or the Vice President's speech. Halleulia! A Democrat turning this election towards God and His Laws!
Well, the convention season
Well, the convention season of Democrats and Republicans has paid off with a few surprises, so following the partying political parties has benefits.
First surprise: Obama chose 35-year+ Washington insider Joe Biden for his VP.
Question: Is this “change from politics as usual"?
And second surprise: McCain chose the standing 2-year Governor of Alaska (with, prior to that, 6 years of mayoring a suburb of Anchorage) as his VP.
Question #1: Isn’t her 8 years of executive experience 8 years more than has Obama (THE heartbeat of the nation if the Dems get their way)? Even counting his hours as editor of a university law journal and as organizer of pick-up basketball in South Chicago (I need convincing as to why these should count) I can’t get anywhere near to 8.
Question #2: Isn’t her 8 years of executive experience 8 years more than Clinton was able to persuade people she offered? Hillary’s only responsibility in all her husband’s presidency came right at the beginning in directing a national health-care reform initiative that ended up a total bust. Bill never delegated to her the like again—her claims notwithstanding to playing a role in moving the Northern Ireland peace process forward (no Irish Republican or Unionist or Brit has any memory of it) or to braving gunfire on a mission to establish peace in Bosnia (videotape disproves the first and no one has come forward to verify the second). Shouldn’t we, rather, take her abysmal campaign for her party’s presidential nomination (bad strategy and distructive infighting on-staff) as the best clue to her managerial skills on offer?
Joe536
Jean R. Conventions have
Jean R.
Conventions have over the years changed in large part because of changes in public media technology. Back when we listened to conventions on the radio, we also were connected to party issues mainly by newspaper and news broadcasts on radio. Today, we know the candidates before the conventions and much of the roll call votes, if held, are redundant because they simply report the obvious. We are already familiar with candidates' personalities and their characteristics and their backgrounds.
But conventions are vitally important for reasons which were not reasons in the earlier days of such. Today they bring into focus the speeches, the platform issues, the faces, voices, background films, and grassroots speakers that have before that point been scattered throughout the country. At last we see them all together, and in that place, energy is produced for common cause and national purpose. I can't believe, for example, that when the lights went out last night at Mile High Stadium, and the Pepsi Center was cleaned up for the next event, supporters of the Obama-Biden ticket were not energized and eager to work for the common good of the party and for the nation -- in a measure the individual campaign sites could not have accomplished. Without the convention this week, the Democratic Party would have gone into the general election a scattered, fragmented bunch of caucuses and issues. Now they have a focus and a will to work together despite differences, for the better good. And I believe the same is possible for the Republicans who attend next week's convention. We need conventions -- to rally our spirits, our energies, and our commitment.
I’m with you on this one,
I’m with you on this one, Sister Joan. And I went one step farther than you by unplugging my TV and radio and by not linking to a single Google News story about the Democratic convention for the whole week. I’ll do exactly the same for the Republicans. This week I’ve, instead, been reading George Stewart’s old classic "Names on the Land". When the next convention rolls around I’ll be working on Philip Bobbitt’s "Terror and Consent". Not only am I better off for it, I’m also learning more about America really worth knowing.
MinnyW
Sr. Joan, I do not
Sr. Joan, I do not necessarily disagree with you, I think you are right, yet you are also wrong. From previous articles, it seems like you keep dwelling on how "Hillary got sleighted." From what I can recall, I do not remember reading much positiveness about Obama. I think he is the best chance we have. I am disappointed with the seeming angry, bitter, cynical, and unprophetic tone. Although I like your denounciations, I also want to hear a message of energy and hope, and Obama seems to be sparking this in people. I am not saying he is a prophet either.
Peace/Blessings,
Jose LG
Los Angeles, CA
While I don't question
While I don't question Joan's analysis, I think the "show" has more than entertainment value. Similar comments could be made about the choreography at the recent Olympics, and it would have been hard to appreciate any of the events if we focused only on the negative side of them. I believe there is a value in enjoying the big party as a chance to see the candidates in action, and at the same time get some smart commentary on PBS. So far I have heard several fine speeches that were worthy of the applause they received.
Diebold and Premier Election
Diebold and Premier Election Solutions don't make mistakes like that,they paid for the right to be the fox in the henhouse
Why is it neccessary? It's
Why is it neccessary? It's not. Some companies who are greedy for the bottomn line decide not to have conventions and substitute by trying to meet online. [Half of the SENATORS and CONGRESSMEN should STAY AT HOME INSTEAD of WASHINGTON and vote by secure email]These delegates could achieve their goal online at least partially. The host city does not do so well either because allthough the Chamber of Commerce preens some of the businesses and police departments suffer. Then how much jet fuel was burned in the air over Colorado.
Sister Joan, Interesting
Sister Joan, Interesting subject but for all humans the reason a TV has an on/off button is to use it when not satisfied. The human element will never be taken away from National Party Conventions. Unfortunately we do see a lot of waste. All parties have their own version of waste. Further if we were to analyze yearly Federal Budgets our heads would spin at the waste and yet it goes on. Who is to blame-all of us are. Look at the yearly vote for any office. Will we ever hit 90% going to the polls. No way!!!!!!!! There has been much talk of excommunication in recent weeks. Don't you think any of us who fail to vote should be excommunicated?? Nothing in our government will change unless we the people exercise our rights and voting is the greatest privilege we have as citizens. It is about time that we throw out all the incumbents and start over. Maybe we should change a few of the restrictions for a person to run for office. Graft and corruption run rampant and many seem not to care!! Our vote does count if all of us take the time. It is easier then ever to write in a candidates name and it can be done if we will it. Unfortunately our freedoms can be taken away with the apathy we are showing and it is about time that money becomes meaningless in our election process. Where is the lead going to come from?? When do we begin??
What all the hoopla about
What all the hoopla about elections? (The airwaves are full of this stuff and it's an overload to begin with.) And, what does that have to do with anything beyond the secular? Has Joan run out of theological topics?
Hmm, I wonder if such
Hmm, I wonder if such pessimism is really necessary.
First, why the sense of virtue wronged regarding the "popular vote?" My entire state (Iowa) is disenfranchised by any such approach, having chosen to caucus. Add to this the diversity of states' approaches to delegate selection("open" primaries wielding disproportionate clout in the final tally), and we have a mongrel "popular vote" number that is more political theater than preference of the people.
Second, it seems to me the function of the Conventions is rather obvious: They present their candidates. With 22 millions of Americans watching, the Dems have their one best chance to tell their story; likewise, the Repubs, next week.
Like you, I hope we discover a less capital-and-police-and-energy-intensive way of doing that. But the gathering of rather like-minded folk, the development of their sense of common cause, and the presentation of their candidates to the world - are these missions really cause for despair?
Well, the pregnancy of
Well, the pregnancy of Palin’s unmarried 17 year-old daughter Bristol was still another surprise. But isn’t it interesting how the folks maximizing it in order to impugn Palin’s suitability for the VPship are the very folks who minimized the implications of a cigar and a blue dress in the time of Bill Clinton’s presidency?
Simonn