I thought it was a stupid move by the RNC, equivalent to the spiking the football. It was concerns about a skirmish getting on camera. It's a concern, but it's overrated. The actual effect is not that big of deal because is essentially does not change all that much. Delegate pissed me off. This not as much. It wasn't needed, but the sky isn't falling.
It's overrated, because in today's political climate, decisions are always - always - always - decided before the convention. That's been the case as long as I've been alive and I'm in my 30's. There wasn't going to be a hijacking this year. There won't be a hijacking in 2016/2020. Primaries (or caucuses) are where the decisions take place.
The real power the RNC has is the push for primary schedules and windows for the elections and seating delegates. Even a lot of that is on the state level.
The way to stop the bad stuff is to make sure we have good committeemen and good state chair and state committee members, and make sure other states do the same thing.
It starts locally, but electing good precinct delegates, executive committee members, county officers, district committee and officers, and state committee members, along with RNC committee members. It's long term, and takes a lot of organization, recruitment of good candidates for those positions, and reaching out to swing voters that make decisions.
Also, there's statutory members automatically on those exec committees. They are your county elected officials (or nominees). Those are important people and will always some of the power regarding county officers. That county commissioner race is important.
I've been at this 11 years. Some have been around longer. Many have not. Most don't know how to organize. Most who do know how to organize don't know how to convince the swing voters and alienate them with takeover attempts and power grabs (or what seem like them), and airing stuff to the media. I'm probably viewed here is more establishment friendly than most posters here, but I say this as a Ron Paul 08 voter and a Santorum voter this year. There's battles to fight. There's battles not worth fighting.
