Can Convention Delegates Do the Right Thing? 

In mid-March, Americans found themselves in a civics predicament: Our nationwide primary election season had apparently come to an end, after only a fraction of registered voters had cast their ballots. 

We can review what occurred in civics terms by referencing roles and relationships, rather than individuals or parties: 

A few days after Super Tuesday, the words “presumptive,” “clinched,” and “rematch” were used by all major news outlets, and a new election narrative coalesced. Then, on March 12, with a majority of states yet to vote, our predicament became a crisis: Mainstream news, including public media, reported that the primaries were over and presidential nominees were secure. Their rationale was “the math” and “rules” because candidates had been pre-awarded delegates who were pre-bound by party rules. Uniform language and thinking took hold across the field; questioning voices faded. An eight-month two-man contest lay ahead and the upcoming primary votes in a majority of states did not matter.  

This groupthink was a forfeiture of independence, responsibility, and ethics. By appropriating party campaign messaging, news outlets promulgated the idea of party rules as absolutes. 

But by accepting this contrived certainty, all of us ignored basic civics principals: political parties and their rules have no authority over the American people; their operational role is to expedite and facilitate the nomination and election of worthy and attractive candidates—a long and complex process in a country of 340 million people.  

Fortunately, if enough citizens feel corralled into a situation they do not want and did not choose, national conventions are the proper place to discuss and vote on a suspension of party rules. 

Here’s where we are four months later: delegates to the non-incumbent party convention will nominate candidates for U.S. president and vice-president in the coming days. They have a rare opportunity to shift narratives in an orderly way, and take steps such as these toward respectful and reasonable discourse:     

Adopt civic-mindedness; consider the wellbeing of the country as a whole

• Acknowledge no higher legal or governing authority than citizens themselves 

• Affirm the unlimited creative potential of a large multigenerational gathering of 50,000 in a dynamic and beautiful city

• Think long term; envision the health and wellbeing of future generations

Millions of us who will not be in Milwaukee or Chicago can do much to encourage and cheer on the convention delegates, who have ethical roles to fulfill. A presidential election, after all, is a multiyear executive search process. In this case, delegates are representatives of us, a nationwide search committee to approve final candidates. Ensuring we can properly compare the top two candidates is a must. Here’s our task: 

Know the president’s job description by becoming familiar with the required tasks and assessing the candidates’ fitness for office. Tasks, Responsibilities, and desired traits are listed here. 

Know the Preamble to the Constitution, which clarifies our mission as a nation. It states, to “form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty…” 

Reimagine two great, healthy, and effective political parties. If we take care to explain the practical benefits of two parties-- to recruit and nominate the most qualified candidates possible and to protect the minority voice, many more young people will become engaged and informed, and want to ensure that their votes too are counted.   

Respect the processes of debate, dialogue, and deliberation leading up to and at the convention. Nominees become official upon a vote by a majority of convention delegates, state by state.   

Affirm that our choices for candidates must be ethical and fit to serve. If we forfeit that choice, we forfeit our freedom. 

So let the festivities in Milwaukee and Chicago begin. Trust the debating process. Hold our fellow citizens to high standards, wish them well, and pray for them. We look forward to convention delegates serving their party and their country to the best of their ability.   

*Terms of reference in this column:

By “Civic,” we mean pertaining to citizens in relation to the whole community (inclusive view.) To be “civic-minded” is to think beyond ourselves to the well-being of the whole. A “civic space” is where such thought is nurtured.

For “Successful elections” we apply three criteria: a choice of qualified candidates; high voter participation; and a broad perception and acceptance that the elections were fair.  

“Ethically functioning major parties” needs combing out:

By “Parties” – we take James Madison’s meaning in Federalist 10: “any group of citizens -- whether majority or minority – who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.” (Since Madison wrote before the Union existed, factions were local or regional.) 

“Major Parties” – the US. has two, to expedite our choosing of representatives; to help strengthen the minority voice and ensure dissenting voices are heard; and to ensure an efficient path to compromise.  

“Ethically Functioning” means the nomination process is fair and proper; nominees are exemplary and law-abiding, elections are well-administered, and outcomes are accepted & trusted.

Susan Haig is VP & Founding Trustee of CivicStory.