Conventional Wisdom

My latest piece in Current magazine

Republicans go wild at the GOP National Convention in Chicago, 1888. They nominated Benjamin Harrison, who went on to defeat incumbent Grover Cleveland. In 1892, Cleveland defeated Harrison to take the presidency back. (Sound familiar?) Cleveland’s second term was dogged by the Panic of 1893, the worst economic downturn in U.S. history other than the Great Depression. History can be twisty.

I have an essay in the latest issue of Current, talking about the role of contested conventions in national politics. For almost 150 years, this was the norm rather than the exception; the last big fight was Ronald Reagan’s attempt to seize the nomination from Gerald Ford in 1976. The primary system, which solidified under Jimmy Carter, has prevailed since. It may be time for a change, because like so many reforms in the name of democracy, this one may have run its course—the system seems to have become dysfunctional in recent elections. We’ll see if we get one.