No More Cheeseheads

I've been tuning in to the Democratic National Convention since the 1960s, mostly on radio (no TV) or (more recently) on the internet.  I've heard all the great speeches - Ted Kennedy in 1980; Mario Cuomo in 1984; Barack Obama in 2004.  And who can forget 1968, in Chicago?  That was the first year I could vote.  And in 2012, I was a delegate to the DNC in Charlotte, NC, from our upstate NY Congressional District.

I watched the DNC's first night last night, and was struck by how much more I liked it than any other I had watched and listened to.  It was pure content - no cheering crowds, no ubiquitous signs or horns, no cheeseheads from Wisconsin, no delays between speakers.  No talking heads to tell us what to think, and no edited shots of audience members to drive the narrative.

I will be very disappointed if the new world does not include virtual national presidential conventions.  I think we were surprised by this category of changes that may become permanent:  we had to do it this way, and, wow, it turned out so much better than how we used to do it!

Conventions are more than their speeches, I know.  But I'm not interested in much of that other stuff.  I suspect a lot of it went on because  that's the way we always did things.  How much more efficient this way is - it's a lot cheaper for everyone concerned, and reduces carbon-intensive air travel (or, in my case, a 1,500 mile round trip in a hybrid car).  It's sparse, elegant and packs everything into a two-hour evening.  Delegates voted remotely, so that can be done, meaning none of the actual legal participants has to be in any particular place.  

I suspect that there are more folks like me who would love to watch American democracy unfold like it did last night.  Looking forward to tonight.

PS: Watch the official DNC feed here:  no talking heads, no commercials, just the Convention.

UPDATE:  Kevin Drum agrees with me.  But I got there first.