Unhappy With Both Republican and Democratic Conventions

The Democratic National Convention is down to its final two days, and then we'll be finished with the convention season.  And, I say to that, "Good riddance!"  Each party's convention has been largely forgettable, with the numerous speakers and performers there appealing  to the audience's emotions, not their sense of reason or judgment.  The Republicans split up their act last week into three basic themes: one, Hillary Clinton is on trial...two, Donald Trump is a great family man, as expressed by his family onstage...three, the world is a bad place, full of things and people to fear and be angry at: just leave it all to the Donald...he'll make them all an offer they can't refuse.  As for the witch hunt against the Democratic presidential nominee, it was the worst form of hypocrisy that New Jersey governor Chris Christie, implicated in a serious bridge-closing scandal during his own administration a couple of years ago, would preside over it all as the "prosecutor".  As for Trump's family, I hardly think that parading your own family members across the stage to give accolades to yourself makes you any more special then anyone else running for the high office.  And as for the stoking of fear and anger, the solution offered, which is to give this candidate almost dictatorial powers to unilaterally change our alliances, violate others' human rights, discriminate against still others for their religious beliefs, and to start a global economic protectionism war, is totally beyond the pale...

I'd like to be reporting that the Democrats are doing much better, but here, too, we see a different form of emotionalism...and excessive political correctness.  Of course, they have to pay homage to the various "correct" interest groups to show what a "good", inclusive, diverse party they are...as opposed to all those white male Republicans last week...and to continually pile on the emotional assurance that Hillary really does care about others and isn't as corrupt and selfish as her political enemies keep asserting.  And couldn't we have easily done without the ridiculous crowd-baiting of Sarah Silverman as she, standing onstage with Senator Al Franken on the first evening, began berating the numerous Bernie Sanders delegates there for not automatically and obediently flipping their allegiances wholeheartedly to Hillary?  That brilliant move only resulted in a floor-wide shouting match between the two candidates' supporters...so much for unity.  And Paul Simon?  Please, will someone please tell this talented musician that Bridge Over Troubled Waters is a song that demands someone with the vocal range of Art Garfunkel to sing...he should have known better than to attempt it solo since he wrote the damned song in the first place...

I thought the only two speeches that mattered in the Republican convention were delivered by Ted Cruz and Donald Trump and, on the Democratic side, it will also be the main contenders Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton whose oratory will count.  As far as I'm concerned, they could have dispensed with all of the other nonsense and distilled their respective parties' messages into these speeches...and spared the American people a lot of grief, not to mention all of the cancelled regularly televised programming...