Why Bernie Sanders Must Fight for a Contested Convention

I'm a fan of yours, but I join those writing in opposition to your arguments against Bernie's ideas of a contested Democratic convention. The rules are set up to allow for this type of contested convention. Whether or not a trailing candidate for the Democratic nomination chooses to bring their fight to the floor has always been predicated on exigent circumstances of the times, not just institutional courtesy or party loyalty.

In prior presidential party contests, opposing or insurgent candidates have fought for the support of their party with the goal of everyone unifying behind the candidate generating the most excitement with the best chance of winning against the other party candidate. In my 60 years these have always been intra-party contests, but these are different times. Party reformation has never played as large a role as it does now.

This year's election is a referendum on establishment politics itself. The pundits in both parties still fail to grasp this obvious fact.

The Republican party is starting to wake up. Their primary season has been an expensive disaster. Their tuberous outcropping of so many weak presidential candidates, all casting about for a winning message, was an obvious sign that the GOP itself is in critical condition. The establishment elites of that party have abused their privileged status for years. They have made too many cynical promises to voters, promises they never intended to keep. They applied deceptive marketing to arouse their base and garner favor with an electorate that they secretly despise. Once in office, they cynically sold themselves to big-business and big-money interests while tossing crumbs to the people who elected them.