The primary in Michigan today was more nonsense than the previous primaries. Because the primary was moved up without consent of the Democratic National Committee, all delegate have been excluded from the National Convention. This makes the primary practically mute for the Democrats. This is, for me, another reason to rethink primaries.

We obviously need a way to determine who get a parties nomination to run for president. This ought to be done by party members. Unlike many other countries, the parties in U.S. do not really have party membership, where members pay party dues. Party due are usually paid by those elected to public office. The U.S. has registered voters, who align themselves with one party or another at registration time, which is necessary when voting in closed primaries. There is little binding these registered voters to the party, though. Before you join a party, where you pay membership fees, you do more consideration. Making a check on a form requires less commitment. In my view these are not party members and it is, therefore, questionable, that they should choose a candidate.

I suggest having those paying party dues to act as delegates to the National Party Convention, which nominates the candidate. These are elected official, who have won the trust of their electorate. They therefore can be entrusted with nominating a candidate.

This would save the candidates a lot of time and money. The bickering between candidates of the same party would not be conducted publicly, like what is going on now between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The election marathon would be reduced, sparring the public moths of endless reporting and hype about the primaries and elections. Finally, completely useless primaries like Michigan wouldn’t waste public tax money and voters time.

Popularity: 44% [?]