The United States is just over a year from choosing the next leader of the free world. So why was one side of the battle totally hung up on whether Rick Perry would make any gaffes in last night’s debate? Isn’t that more than a little ridiculous? Is this what the framers of the Constitution had in mind when they established the procedures for selecting the president?
The contemporary nomination process is not the product of careful consideration and precise execution. Instead, its origins trace back to the far left of the Democratic party, which rewrote their side’s nomination rules after 1968. The Republicans, without much consideration of their own, followed along over the course of the 1970s, and today’s process has evolved slowly ever since.
