Hillary Clinton

It is a two-party system, not a parliamentary system, so by default, the two parties function more as coalitions than actual parties. Calling ourselves "The Big Tent Party" and then getting all grabby and territorial about the levers of power when other coalition members have complaints is not going to work for long. IMO.

And Donald Trump suggests to me why we should strive to make the system work better for people who feel left out of the process. Republican voters just nuked their party. Democrats made a feeble attempt to do the same. The control of Congress has been whipping back and forth with voters getting more dissatisfied and unhappy with each change. Why? I think it is because the two party system is not working well and both political parties are ossified. It is the big money, gerrymandering, racial unease, economic change. Citizens are unhappy right now, and they do want change. It is not Clinton's fault, or DWS or any of the other silly paper tigers the Sanders camp puts up. But the dissatisfaction is real and longstanding. If the Democratic Party digs in and refuses to recognize this, they will go the same way the GOP is going now. It is change or die, IMO.

You are technically correct in all that you said. It IS the party's right to run their party and primaries any way they see fit. But I believe that if we shut it down, ignore the trend of independent voter and try to discourage competitive candidates, the party will fail and be replaced, the same way that the GOP is being replaced. It happens all the time. We haven't always been Democrats and Republicans in this country.

But I also want to emphasize that there is a great opportunity for Democrats right now if they play their cards right. The political landscape is shifting which means many doors are getting ready to open for those who are prepared to lead. We have a winning strategy with the Obama coalition and a steady leader in Hillary Clinton. I think we should trust our party's talent, vision, and core values. We don't need to worry too much about open vs. closed primaries. If our vision and candidates are better we will win in either system. Clinton DID win in open primaries too. Remeber that.