It's convention time again. Recently as our civic lives our entertainments and manners have grown more rowdy and fiercely spontaneous. Our national politics have become strictly scripted. The convention acceptance speech written by committee blends blandly into another and another we have all heard before. Call it our politics of regularity.
American voters flirt with the irregular.
In the primaries, Americans flirted, finally only flirted with candidates who were not pre- chosen by party insiders. Now, third-party candidates are admired for their candor and directness. Blame it on television. Beware of the camera. Richard Nixon, in that first televised presidential debate, learned the price of not wearing makeup and, worse, sweating on television.