I'd never been to a political convention before the RNC in Milwaukee this week. Conventions of this kind are massive, they take over entire cities. In Milwaukee, the entire downtown area was blocked off, zoned into perimeters with checkpoints as thorough as the TSA. People had come in from everywhere, and there was a greater media presence than in Times Square, New York. People from every state had come in, too, to witness political history in the making. But the real business of American politics, at the grassroots level, happens on the floor of the convention. This is where the delegates gather, where they and they alone nominate the party's presidential ticket. The big names were up on stage, but the people who do the work of politics for the people of the nation are on the floor.
I had the opportunity to walk through the delegate floor on Wednesday night and witness how the business of politics was undertaken on the ground floor. Each state has its own section with enough chairs for the delegates from those states. Some state delegates pull together a uniform, like how the Texas delegation was a sea of white cowboy hats, or how everyone in the Nevada section was wearing matching yellow ball caps, or Wisconsinites with their cheese heads. State pride was on full display, and I admit to feeling a little of that myself when I saw that New York and West Virginia were seated next to each other, just across a slim aisle, only a little thinner than the Shenandoah and Hudson Rivers at some points. Seeing the delegation from the only state that's ever felt like home—New York—and the state that's rapidly becoming home—West Virginia—gave me a bit of that state pride so many Americans feel.
When I arrived, the convention had just fallen silent for a memoriam to the 13 US soldiers who died in Afghanistan as we withdrew forces in August 2021. Many of their parents were there to speak on their behalf and to make sure their names were not forgotten. It was a stark reminder of the risks taken by young men and women who fight for the security of our nation and also the horror of losing a child, at any age. My heart went out to them, and that was plainly true for just about everyone in the Fiserv Forum last night.
The delegate floor was silent as the video played, and as the parents spoke. There was a reverence in which these soldiers were held up, remembered, honored. I wanted to take a video of the moment, but more than that I wanted to experience it. Much lip service is given to "everyday Americans," those average people among us who simply exist, work hard, raise our kids, think deep thoughts while watering the garden, sing Billboard classics in the shower, who want the country to be what was promised, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. But these delegates are out there doing it. Delegates come to cast their votes, to nominate candidates, because it is the business of the American people to do so. Media, pundits, pontificators, all that is extra, but the real work is done on the floor.
When one Gold Star father spoke about seeing his son's casket, along with the caskets of 12 others killed while carrying out their duty to serve, and noted with rising emotion that President Joe Biden stood and checked his watch on the tarmac, the anger on the floor was palpable. Checking the time while the nation's honored dead come home from the field of battle was an intolerable slight, and the president was roundly booed for doing it. It was easy to believe that the Gold Star families on stage were not the only ones who had lost children to tragedy, all those American children deserve dignity, respect, and honor, in death and in life. I could not help but be affected by the solemnity, but also by the sacrifice made by the soldiers and their families who will suffer without them and grieve for years and years to come.
Americans want peaceful lives. They still believe in the American Dream, no matter how tarnished it has become. And that's what Republicans were promising this week at their convention in Milwaukee. It’s been a while since anyone really promised that in any political party, but it’s all Americans want, really. We want to know that we can create opportunities, that if we work hard, it will pay off without undue barriers or restrictions. We want to know that we can all succeed if we fight hard enough, will not be held back by our skin color, our religion, even our diminished station in life.
The Republican party brought in not only new faces but new ideas, messages of hope, positivity, and that on-trend word, unity in a shared vision of America. It's up to every voter to decide who they believe can deliver on domestic prosperity, civil order, and the American Dream, but for conservatives this week, the answer was resounding that the elusive dream is for everyone, for those of all religions and sexual orientations, for OnlyFans stars, for single moms, for immigrants. The American Dream is not something that can be provided by either political party, but is something that parties can create the conditions for Americans to achieve.
This is the biggest difference on display between Democrats and Republicans this election season. Democrats want to legislate prosperity, Republicans want to provide conditions for Americans to achieve it. Democrats want to change laws to force equity, Republicans want to uphold equality under existing law. Democrats want to abandon merit in favor of quotas and identitarian mandates, Republicans want Americans to achieve on their own talents, hard work, and hustle. The American Dream is out of reach for many Americans, so much so that millions of young people claim they don't even want it. But if given the chance to earn, to provide for one's self and one's family, to own a home and raise children in a clean, safe neighborhood, I believe that many Americans would choose it.
