of all years to pick to complain about an echo chamber in a primary, this is a pretty poor year
Specious. The overwhelming vote for Clinton in Maryland and New York is an example of an echo chamber where registered democrats agree with each other, while Independent voters who tend to agree less are not given a voice to dissent even if they tend progressive.
Came close?
No she didn't she's beating Sanders by almost 300 delegates. The race has been effectively over since March 15th
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/ep..._democratic_presidential_nomination-3824.html
That spread is pretty thin. We're walking into an election with a candidate who has supremely high unfavorables, and that fact is only redeemed by the OTHER candidate with historic unfavorables.
I mean, I'd buy the frustration if we had just gone through a primary where we weren't able to produce a center candidate. But I think the current system clearly rejected the more radical option.
I agree. I did not say that the system we have right now is going to produce a radical candidate. It obviously hasn't. And I'm not frustrated, I just hold a position.
Debates are theatre. Policy positions for everyone have been a known quantity for a long time and are trivial to investigate since the internet exists.
Even in a state of complete ignorance, the democratic and republican party platforms are far enough apart that a hypothetical independent should be able to decide which party is close enough to their personal positions without seeing Trump and Bush insult each other for an hour first on stage.
That is not true if the choice is between, say, Sanders and Trump. Completely diverging social opionions but relatively congruent notions on trade and (prior to a pivot caused by the Democratic base) immigration. Even their foreign policy positions are similar, with distinct flavors added. Trump and Sanders are non interventionist, with Trump adding anti-islam jingoism and a "beat the shit out of ISIS" machismo, while Sanders favors love and diplomacy or something. Both have said they'd be willing to "talk" with Russia! How different are they, really, when you strip them of the rhetoric and Trumps abysmal image?
I didn't give my opinion on the October deadline. I'm just assessing the excuses of a losing campaign. But I will say I'm not going to lose sleep because people who are clearly not members of a political party aren't able to exert their influence over it.
You do not live in a Republican district, I bet. My congressman was once a proud member of the House Freedom Caucus.
The debates that only feature members from one party? Yes
The primary is not about choosing between parties or 'winning the center'. That is the general election. Independents can vote for whoever they want in a general election. Primaries are part of an internal process to choose the leader of a specific party. Limiting them to people who are actually members of said party makes perfect sense and is not a blotch on Democracy
It does make perfect sense. I just have a different preference, because I am goals oriented.
But Democrats have had the white house for 8 years and look to take it for at least another 4, so what exactly is being lost to closed primaries?
What good is a party if its ticket doesn't represent its membership?
The tea party represents the party membership, too. Why was a government shutdown pursued by such a large portion of Congress if the American people overwhelmingly were not in favor?
