Late on Monday evening, for one brief shining moment, it looked like the heavy storm clouds brewing over the 2012 RNC convention rules might disappear like so much vapor…

That is, until delegates began to look closely at the compromise—what it included, and what it didn’t.

As a groundswell of press has indicated over the last 24 hours, the consternation over proposed procedure has focused primarily, though not exclusively, on two rules: 12 and 15.

What do these two rules do?

As initially passed by the Rules Committee, Rule 15 would have required ALL states to pledge ALL delegates.  Moreover, the rule would would have given candidates ultimate veto power over individual state delegate elections by subjecting nearly all delegates to candidate approval.

Rule 12—nicknamed “the rule to end rules”—would give the RNC and the Romney campaign the power to change any convention rule they like between now and September 30, 2014, provided they have a 3/4 majority of the RNC membership. The 3/4 majority was actually an amendment offered by committee members who didn’t have the votes to defeat the rule outright, but who wanted to at least try to slow down any damage.

Either of these rules alone would amount to the creation of a soviet within the Republican Party–a central oligarchy, with the states functioning as little more than controlled satellites and delegates as hollow apparatchiks.  If you like kabuki theater, step right up!  If you think dissent is a healthy thing that should be entertained within a party discussion, well, hey, that’s not really convenient, so just shut up.

Even establishment party leadership in numerous state delegations have been complaining—some of them quite loudly—about what’s being aptly described as a blatant power grab.

Developed in an effort to ensure “unity,” these rules have, in fact, yielded just that…but not in quite the way the people who created the rules expected.  Rather than quelling dissent over a presidential nominee, they have brought clear-thinking establishment and Tea Party delegates together in deep concern and abject disgust.

Until Monday evening, the Rules Committee was preparing to do something it hasn’t done in quite some time: issue an official minority report. A preliminary draft of the report unhesitatingly recommends that the proposed Rule 15 language be rejected in favor of prior procedure.

In an attempt to smooth a multitude of ruffled feathers before Tuesday’s floor session, the Rules Committee announced a compromise that is now making the rounds.  Some are falling for the compromise, believing that a crisis has been neatly averted.

However, the rule doesn’t actually solve the problem.  In fact, it is a misdirect, much like those used by clever prestidigitators.

What does the compromise provide?

Ostensibly, it restores the right of the states to elect delegates according to their own current procedures, while ensuring that pledged delegates would indeed have to vote on the first ballot for the candidate to whom they are pledged.

Sounds reasonable right?  Compromise reached, minority report goes away, hubbub on the convention floor silenced before it starts, and embarrassment for the RNC and/or the Romney campaign avoided, right?

Not quite.

Here’s the thing…

The compromise doesn’t address Rule 12…and if Rule 12 passes, Rule 15 language—or any other rule for that matter—can be rewritten whenever the RNC and the Romney campaign like…for the next two years.

Yes, three-quarters of the RNC membership is a high threshold.  But rest assured, it can be achieved—by much the same process that votes for bad legislation are lined up in Washington.

Curiously, there was no official minority report prepared regarding Rule 12, despite the fact that many members are deeply concerned about it.  And because Rule 15 has not been called out in an official minority report, delegates will have to vote up or down on it as part of the total rules report.

There’s definitely more unfortunate news in the Rules Report, not just for the grassroots, but for states.  Unfortunately, delegates will have precious little time to read the rules over on the floor tomorrow and separate the wheat from the chaff.  The best possible way to avoid a problem and ensure that the state delegations and individual RNC delegates retain any authority is for 2012 RNC delegates to reject Tuesday’s Rules Report in full and insist that 2008 convention rules are retained.

The Rules Report is expected to come up on Tuesday afternoon.  Time is running out!!!

If you belong to the Republican Party and want to ensure that your ability to influence state and national party decision-making cannot be utterly destroyed on the whim of the RNC or a campaign, start contacting your state party leadership and state party delegation PRONTO!

If you’re an RNC delegate, protect the integrity of the party by rejecting the Rules Report in full.