This is a much-needed piece. I really appreciate your mention the need to reform the primary system as this is, in my view, one of the main root causes of extremist candidates rising to power in the legislative and executive branches. It’s hard to imagine that in the pre-1968 system a Donald Trump-ish candidate would ever have gotten close to the nomination. One thing you might consider is how the parties themselves are weakening, particularly the Republican party (which is, at this point, barely a party at all). My somewhat unpopular opinion is that parties should be strengthened and given more power to choose candidates, as a way of mitigating the current (broken) primary system and exerting a moderating influence on extremism. They used to function that way, but now they don’t, and it’s to the detriment of the whole system.
This is a much-needed piece. I really appreciate your mention the need to reform the primary system as this is, in my view, one of the main root causes of extremist candidates rising to power in the legislative and executive branches. It’s hard to imagine that in the pre-1968 system a Donald Trump-ish candidate would ever have gotten close to the nomination. One thing you might consider is how the parties themselves are weakening, particularly the Republican party (which is, at this point, barely a party at all). My somewhat unpopular opinion is that parties should be strengthened and given more power to choose candidates, as a way of mitigating the current (broken) primary system and exerting a moderating influence on extremism. They used to function that way, but now they don’t, and it’s to the detriment of the whole system.