The RNC is a confederation of the state and territorial Republican Parties. Its irreducible core function is to establish the rules by which the state parties can come together to field a national candidate. The rules are adopted at the national convention, which is the plenary body of the party, assembled (per the current rules) once every four years, or by special call.
Beyond that, the RNC does whatever the state parties direct it to do. Every state party has a national committeeman, national committeewoman, and a state chairman, elected under state party rules. These delegates ARE the RNC. Everybody else is just staff. Historically the RNC's biggest role was to raise the funds for the presidential campaign. That is what turned the RNC into the money machine that reaches out and touches all of us regularly (whether we respond or not).
People should stop turning the RNC into some kind of hobgoblin. It is the confederation of the state parties. No more, and no less. Pretty simple when you get down to it.
The Republicans still operate under traditional rules of engagement. The Democrats poisoned their process in 1968 when the Democratic Convention kowtowed to Jesse Jackson and refused to seat the Illinois delegation, due to the melanin balance of its delegates. It seated instead Jesse's rump faction, so in essence the national party suppressed one of its state constituent parties and asserted national control over delegate selection. This was a big stop down the slippery slope to a Leninist party enforcing discipline from above. The Republicans should not follow this model.
Yes...I’m wondering what the State GOPs are doing.
Yes, a lot of people have forgotten, or never knew, that 1968 was the summer that the Dems as a party made a hard left turn.