Last fall, officials for both "major" Nevada parties were loudly celebrating "all the new people this will bring into the process."
Then, when those people actually showed up at their state conventions this spring, chaos ensued.
The Democrats hadn't rented a big enough room for enough time to even sort out who was a credentialed delegate and should be allowed to vote. They had to close down and do it all again, a few weeks later.
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And what happened as the GOP carnival in Carson City two weekends ago was even harder to sort out, at first. Reports from party regulars were that the Ron Paul minority (the Texas congressman came in second to Mitt Romney in the party's Nevada caucuses this winter) had shown up and tried to "take over" the convention, or else "wreck it." Though no one could explain precisely why they'd want to do that.
After talking to a number of participants, both those who were on the stage and those out in the cheap seats, I must conclude the clash of expectations on view at the Peppermill in Reno April 26 was actually more interesting and important that the rumored attempt at a "minority takeover," which is not what actually happened.
First, America does not have two major parties. It has one major party -- the Incumbent Party -- which is divided into two social clubs, the Republicrats and the Demopublicans.
This single party has a single agenda: Tell the voters you stand for "change," and then deliver them no change at all, except incremental further steps toward the brand of state socialism popularized by Bismarck, Mussolini, Hitler and Roosevelt the Second.
If we have two different major parties, tell me which one, placed in power, would quickly end the War on Drugs; pull our troops out of 103 nations overseas; restore the Second Amendment right to own a machine gun without having to sign your name or show a photo ID; end the actuarially bankrupt and constitutionally unauthorized Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security Ponzi schemes; shut down the Federal Reserve Board and put us back on a sound, non-inflating dollar made of gold and/or silver. Tell me which one would declare that children belong to their parents, shutting down the state "Child Protection" kidnapping racket (kids have been kidnapped and killed for an offense as minor as mom not "getting them their shots" -- see Cameron Justin Demery, Oct. 14, 1996) and the vastly expensive Government Youth Propaganda Camps which are dumbing down our children into quasi-literate sociopaths.
That would be "change." And the One Party has none to offer.
I come from New England. Many fine New Englanders are the Catholic descendants of Irish and Italian immigrants. They're against abortion, suspicious of much current "Politically Correct" chicanery, and -- having had three generations to start a business and accrue some wealth -- balk at higher taxes. Looking at the platforms of the "two parties," they should be Republicans. But they'd be ostracized by their friends and families if they registered as anything but Democrats. The Republicans are the fat cats with the Mayflower names who live up on the hill and won't let the darned Swamp Yankee (insert colorful racial epithet of your choice) into the country club.
It's a social thing.
Over the decades, the agenda for a Nevada Republicrat state convention -- especially in a year when the presidential nominee already stands anointed -- has become ritualized. Sign in a few hundred delegates, most of whom know each other and -- for that matter -- knew each other's parents. Show some "pep rally" videos designed to stir up the crowd and ridicule the Demopublicans. Troop out the party's old war horses and celebrity guests to take a bow and -- in at least one case -- actually sing a song.
Now, with lunchtime approaching, seek a voice vote OK of the credential committee's delegate slate for the national convention Sept. 1.
In Reno April 26, convention chairman Bob Beers said the "ayes" had accepted the party delegate slate. But a count of hands was called for. Turns out the "ayes" didn't have it -- by a margin of about 670 to 430.
The eager Ron Paulista delegates -- accompanied by a fair number of newcomers who signed on as Mitt Romney delegates, without whom the Paulistas could not have raised the majority that voted down the "company delegate slate" -- didn't realize they'd been invited to attend a formal social gathering with rituals as time-honored as the garter toss and the father dancing with the bride. They thought they were there to participate in "live" politics -- to elect a slate of delegates to the national convention, and instruct those delegates through the mechanism of a state party platform as to which issues they wish the national party to bring before the electorate next fall.
One group was there for a social event. The other still believed that political change can be effected in America through political activism.
The faith of the Paul and Romney delegates -- their hope that the campaign could be made to address real issues, like our eroding standard of living caused by the purposeful inflation of the Federal Reserve -- is naive, but a precious thing. That this faith will be crushed by a system that values nothing other than "triangulating" to 51 percent -- and it has to be this year -- is very sad.
But the folks who started out "in charge" at the Peppermill April 26, assuming all the ritualized business could be handled with some quick voice votes, are not evil people.
Republican Chairwoman Sue Lowden showed great political courage in standing up against mandatory vaccinations in the state Senate a few years back.
That brave stand gave the Culinary union all the ammo they needed to bring her down, absurdly claiming the young mother was "in favor of childhood disease."
And convention chairman Bob Beers is as close to a lower-tax, smaller government Republican as this state party has produced in a long while.
But one team showed up ready to reminisce about old times and play a little lawn croquet on April 26, only to find themselves in a hall with 900 strangers suited up for lacrosse.
You see, when leaders of both parties crowed last fall about how happy they were to see so many new people being "brought into the process" by the new Nevada caucuses, they meant "registering to vote for our guys." They never imagined these characters would actually crash their annual tea party.
Vin Suprynowicz (vsuprynowicz@reviewjournal.com) is the Review-Journal's assistant editorial page editor and the author of "Send in the Waco Killers." See
www.vinsuprynowicz.com/ or
www.lvrj.com/blogs/vin/.
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