Last night Hillary won the Washington State Primary. Few noticed since Bernie won the majority of delegates earlier, through the state caucuses. The self proclaimed voice of the people has relied unduly on the undemocratic caucuses. Primaries allow voting throughout the day, and even provide absentee voting for those unable to make it to the polls. Caucuses exclude, or make it more difficult, for parents of young children, people working swing or night shifts and completely exclude members of the armed forces. People who rely on the sanctity of the secret ballot are forced to publicly proclaim their preference or skip the proceedings.
Other than caucuses, Sanders has relied on unDemocratic primaries, my term for the misleading designation "Open Primaries." General elections are open to all registered voters. But primaries select the nominee from a specific party. Quite reasonably, some state Democratic parties require that primary voters at least take the rudimentary step of aligning with the Democratic party through the voter registration process. Sanders has lost all of these Democratic primaries.
Sanders, a life long independent, only registered as a Democrat for ballot access. Yesterday when asked if he had any loyalty to the party, he ducked the question and instead voiced his opposition to Trump. How unseemly then, that Bernie wants to radically change the party and its procedures. It is like a neighbor telling you how to raise your child.
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