We’ve all heard the objection that political conventions have become empty kabuki theater. No more high drama of multiple ballots or uncertainty about the outcome. “Today,” laments political guru Mike Murphy, “delegates are bound through the application of TV ad ratings points, not machine deals. They sit in the convention hall like the background actors in a TV show, milling about to the director’s orders, wearing costumes and denied a single line. It seems a shabby ending to a great tradition. It’s time for a mercy killing.”

Murphy is an astute political observer, but I think he’s wrong. Sure, conventions have lost their drama (though, even in the old days, very few actually featured any suspense about the eventual nominee). And yes, like so much else in American life, they have become shows. But at least they are shows about public policy and about democracy — each party getting an extended opportunity to make its best case. Political conventions are among the few shows Americans watch that deal with important matters, like the direction of the country, rather than about Snooki or “Monday Night Football.” (Not that there’s anything wrong with football … )