Then and only then will I address the rest of your post, because with all due respect, I don’t think you’re understanding my point here.
I understand perfectly what you’re saying...but the entire concept of a ‘bound delegate’ reverting to ‘free agency’ in the event of an artificial threshold (which is the topic being discussed here, is it not?) is subversive to your original vote..and we know there are delegates who intend to do just that, should the occasion arise, because they know better than you or I...
what I don’t get is why you would support a system that, however infrequent, would allow for your original vote to be voided...?
1237 isn’t an artificial threshold, it is 50%+ of the 2472 delegates. 1236 could mean that 2 candidates each have 1236, so you have to have the majority, not just a plurality.
I don’t know who makes these rules, but after the first ballot, someone has to change their allegiance to get to the 1237.
I think this is why campaigns ‘suspend’ instead of ‘quit’. If they have a few delegates, then they have a bit of power at the convention.
If trump is 5 short and carson has 7, one would think that trump could get there on ballot 2. But, lets face it. A lot of delegates aren’t there because their first ballot commitment was their own choice. Others may have become disillusioned by their first choice, or enamored with another.
No matter what happens, a whole lot of people are gonna be disappointed...upset...and they have a couple months to simmer down and band together to defeat liberalism...
You think a majority is an "artificial threshold"?
What if there were 5 candidates and the one with the most delegates had 22% of the vote? Should he automatically get the nomination?
What if he is in favor of (insert hot button issue here, e.g. gun control, abortion, high tariffs) and 75% of the party is opposed to it? The party should automatically choose the guy who supports something that is abhorrent to the vast majority?
Can you think objectively? Rules are created for the best objective results for the entire party. Not just for one candidate with a personality cult.
The "artificial threshold" is 1237 delegates. Yes it's "artificial" in a sense, but it's not arbitrary. That's the important point to remember here. That number (1237) is a majority of the delegates. Not simply a plurality (50%+1), but a mathematical majority. Mathematics aren't arbitrary. The number is what it is, mathematically.
To your point though, it can be said it was "artificially" set. Certainly. But that's all anyone has to work with, ultimately, when setting a contest and making the rules thereof. The 3 point shot line in basketball is "artificially" set. The lines demarking fair or foul balls in baseball are "artificially" set. But no one cries when the ball shot or hit outside or in these lines get counted as fair or foul when they fall outside these artificial (yet mathematical) boundaries.
Look, I get that you don't like Cruz as a candidate and I'm not going to try to convince you otherwise. That ship has sailed around here (on FR) as far as I can see. All I'm trying to do is explain how Cruz isn't doing anything less honorable than an athelete who barely makes a 3 point shot or a home run after reviewing the replay tape. It's in the rules and he's playing by the rules. He has every right to use every rule at his disposal in his favor.
what I don’t get is why you would support a system that, however infrequent, would allow for your original vote to be voided...?
I could ask you the same question since probably before reading this article you never even knew this was a possibility. Thus you were perfectly happy believing that Trump had every "right" to gain the nomination in this nominating "system" by simply having a plurality (and not a majority) of the delegates. Why have you become so indignant now that you have discovered that the rules are that a candidate must have a majority and not simply a plurality of delegate votes? These are the same rules that have been in place for a while now.
It's not Cruz's fault he knows the rules better than you or Trump. And again, as I already showed my vote isn't being "subverted" because all Trump has to do is secure a majority of the delegates and he WILL be the nominee. No matter how many of his delegates are actually loyal to Cruz. Or else it will be as he predicted there will be a revolt from the GOP (and rightfully so).