Since my G-G-Grandfather was an Abolitionist who was one of the original Republicans - he was a Southerner who moved to the Free State of Iowa in 1852 in opposition to slavery - I'm sure he would have known and participated.
But I doubt it was as perverted a process as we see now, and I really don't care that "it's been that way for a while". And no, we don't have to just accept it. What we are seeing now is the problem with operating that way: someone can game the system.
So once again Mr. Go-Along-To-Get-Along...the Stupid Party can either change to reflect its constituents interests or...dry up and blow away.
So do you want all delegates to stand firm on their designated candidate throughout the convention ballots? Or perhaps we nominate the GOP candidate by popular vote in all states and territories?
What is your plan to “un-rig” the system?
Actually, it wasn’t unusual then for the time and location of political party meetings (caucuses) to be unknown to anyone but ‘insiders’.
Participation in the process has never been more open and publicized.
We live in a time in which the reality of our history, and even trial and error itself, is considered unimportant compared to our desire for instant gratification and freedom from consequences.
You make exactly the right point. All these clowns telling us how “those have always been the rules” completely miss the point. If those are the rules, the rules are rigged to protect the corrupt SOBs governing us. They can say it is temperance, to ensure that the whims of the public don’t lead to mob rule... and all that jazz.
But the entire system is corrupt to its very core. Treason is accepted as normal. And these rules are protecting the traitors and sell-outs. So damn the rules. Once we get power, we should change them.