Under this plan or system, no State, section or locality can gain or
lose representation in any party convention through the application of
extraneous or questionable methods, either by the action of the
government or of a political party. The representation in Congress and
in the different State Legislatures, which is based upon population,
fixes the representation from each State in the different National
Conventions and in many of the State Conventions. Any other plan or
system,--especially that which is based upon the number of votes cast
for the candidates of the party as officially ascertained and
declared,--would have a tendency to work serious injustice to certain
States and sections. In fact, it would have a tendency to sectionalize
the party by which the change is made.
Under the present system, for instance, Pennsylvania and Texas have the
same representation in a National Democratic Convention that they have
in a National Republican Convention, although one is usually Republican
in National elections and the other Democratic. And why should not the
representation from those States be the same in both conventions? Why
should Texas, because it is believed to be safely Democratic, have more
power and influence in a Democratic Convention on that account than the
Republican State of Pennsylvania? The answer may be because one is a
Democratic and the other a Republican State--because one can be relied
upon to give its electoral votes to the candidates of the Democratic
party while the other cannot. But this is not in harmony with our
governmental system. Representation in Congress being based upon
population, every State, section and locality has its relative weight
and influence in the government in accordance with the number of its
inhabitants.
That this is the correct principle will not be seriously questioned when
it is carefully considered. What is true of Pennsylvania and Texas in a
National Democratic Convention is equally true of the same States in a
National Republican Convention, and for the same reasons. The argument
that Pennsylvania should have relatively a larger representation in a
National Republican Convention than Texas, because the former is
reliably Republican while the latter is hopelessly Democratic, is just
as fallacious in this case as in the other. But it is said that
delegates from States that cannot contribute to the success of the
ticket should not have a potential voice in nominating a ticket that
other States must be depended upon to elect. Then why not exclude them
altogether, and also those from the territories and the District of
Columbia?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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