Is
it just me…or do all political conventions seem kind of
silly to you?
Not to pick
on the Democrats from last week as I am certain the upcoming
Republican one will be just as bad, but aren’t these just a
little too predictable? I mean, come on you and I could look
at film footage from the past 15 conventions and the format
would be essentially the same.
Let’s get
dressed up in funny clothes and act silly. Then we can drink
and party.
If you sit
the average person down in front of his boob tube and play
some variety or talent show from the fifties, they’d get up
and leave after fifteen minutes. What played in Peoria in
the fifties won’t cut it today. Nope, the networks had to
adapt to changing taste (?) and the desires of the viewing
audience. Comedy that was funny forty years ago won’t even
rate a chuckle these days.
So, what
happened to the convention planners? Where is their sense of
creativity?
You and I
could write the script for either one of the political
conventions in this country.
First we
have three or four nights of opponent bashing in which we
list all of the evils of the other candidate. Then we drag
out either an old congressman or a very young, maybe both,
to speak on the virtues of their current candidate. Then we
have to have some family member come out and talk about how
Daddy was always there when he was needed. Then we get the
war veterans, if he was in the war. If not in a war, we get
subjected to a variety of colleagues who like to hear
themselves talk and do so for what seems like hours on end.
Next we get the wife, who has stood by her husband through
the dark and lonely days. The wife who has suffered, right
along side of old what’s his name. The wife, who will
probably end up writing a tell all book about him once they
are out of the political spotlight.
It won’t be
flattering. Trust me, but she will make a lot of money on
it, no matter how many years later it is when it gets
published. It also won’t matter how badly it is written.
Then we
turn our attention to the audience. These are grown up
adults wearing funny hats and clothing. They appear to have
saved these various pieces of dress over the years and see
no shame in making bad clothing decisions. Where do they get
this stuff they wear? I’ve never seen anything like what
they wear in any of the stores I shop.Who hands out this
many pins to stick on their vest or hats? What do the pins
say or mean? These are the things I’d like for someone to
tell me.
All of this
must have originated at the start of our country when
someone needed an excuse to throw a party. One of our
founding fathers probably said something like…”I know what
we can do….let’s rent a hall, dress up funny and drink….then
we’ll nominate old what’s his name for president.”
These
conventions people appear to be at a fever pitch in the
waning hours of the evening. I’ve often wondered about what
they do during the day. Do they go to seminars and training
sessions to learn about their candidate or do they just
sleep and eat? What kind of topics can they discuss at the
seminars anyway?
I’ve also
wondered how these people get off work to attend one of
these things. In fact, if you want the truth, I’m kind of
jealous. It looks to me like several thousand folks have a
pretty cushy deal for a week or so listening to speeches and
yelling. I can do that.
Who pays
for all of this anyway? How can I sign up? I never see any
ads in the paper looking for folks to join up and attend
some orientation session on convention going.
You can
look around at the preparations they have to do just to
showcase the candidate. It looks to me like it takes years
to organize and prepare for the convention week. It also
looks expensive.
This stuff
must cost a fortune just to pay for the balloons and
decorations alone. How’d that get started anyway? What did
they do before they had balloons? Drop pine cones or
something, I suppose. I still would like to know how they
fill those things….I suppose it’s still by hand…don’t think
a machine could do one….certainly looks like a lot of time
consuming work to me. Couldn’t that time be used in some
better way…like teaching a kid to read or something?
Probably
not. That would require the old time honored traditions to
change and heaven help us, but that’s never going to happen.
We might as
well buckle down and get used to it, since it doesn’t seem
to be going away anytime soon. That’s the American way.
Dress up in funny clothes and throw a party.
I could do
this.
