Brief comment on the Democratic Convention: Spectacle without spectacle

I don't have a lot to say here, because I don't know what there is to say.  Did you even realize that there is a convention sort-of happening?  What happens if you throw a convention and nobody is allowed to show up?

I don't know.  Nobody does.

Realistically, conventions are rarely all that important.  You can point to moments in past conventions that have been somewhat important.  Well, the 1968 Democratic Convention was very important, but we changed the entire nominating process in response to it.  That's why we use primaries instead of just having party muckety-mucks pick the nominee.  You see, if party muckety-mucks pick the nominee, you take the power away from the people, and we want the people to be able to pick outsiders.

Right?

Yeah, so anyway, mostly conventions are just for show.  They stand out only when you get moments like Ted Kennedy snubbing Jimmy Carter in 1980.  Live theater!

What happens when you have live theater without, you know, the live theater?  Um...

So this is happening.  Sort of.  In a sense, this is history, but muted in all likelihood.  Perhaps something will happening worth commentary.  Perhaps not.  The world is strange.