by Paul Swanson

[EDITOR's NOTE: this is in response to Richard E. Berg-Andersson's Commentary of this past 18 April]

Thank you for your calculated approval of the republican process! Many people don't understand the reasoning behind this process, but it is this reasoning that led to the signing of the Bill of Rights itself; after all, at times, the numbers do not back the people. In the case of a contested Convention, when less than fifty percent of the people have chosen to back any given candidate, it is only right to take a look at what the largest plurality of the people hold a consensus with.

In a recent survey, sixty-two percent of Republicans said that the consensus should be to favor the popular vote. This seems careless, in my opinion, for one glaring reason: throughout the nominating process so far, Donald Trump has garnered thirty-eight percent of the people's backing; Ted Cruz has accrued twenty-eight; and John Kasich has mustered fourteen.

What is missing from this equation? It is the twenty percent of the voters who did not choose any of the above. How do these people now feel? Many of them supported Marco Rubio or Carly Fiorina or Jeb Bush, candidates that ideologically are closer to Cruz than any other candidate-- especially when it comes to economic and moral issues.

If Kasich supporters decide to rally behind Trump, that can be a path to fifty percent for Trump, which in New England could even exceed eighty percent. However, if the liberal side of the Republican Party cannot part with Kasich, voters have already shown that after more than two-thirds of the States have decided, nearly fifty percent have pleaded for a more conservative candidate than Trump or Kasich. Whether that candidate be a man like Ted Cruz or a woman like Carly Fiorina, more than half of the Republicans would be pleased and the American People would be represented well because the Bill of Rights and the Constitution would be knowledgeably upheld.

Let's allow the 2472 delegates to this year's Republican National Convention to make a wise decision!

Paul Swanson