The Republicans have a mix of primaries and caucuses, along with a few conventions, mostly because the selection of delegates to the national convention is made at the state level subject to certain rules laid down by the Republican National Committee.
The first four states ... Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada ... are relatively small, spread around the country, and two of these are caucuses and two are primaries. In these and other early states, delegates are chosen by proportional representation. These states are supposed to give a lot of opportunity for candidates to prove themselves.
After these first several states, contests mostly turn into winner-takes-all. The later states are supposed to quickly close the deal and get us to a decision.
These rules weren’t written for Trump and against him, but to work in any year. No. They’re not perfect, but what in this life is.
If you want to change the rules, I suggest getting with your state Republican organization. Link up with like-minded Republicans. Be there, year in and year out, and work at it, together with others.
Trump, as the leader of the party, has or would have a lot of influence. He showed up and joined our party in 2016. During his presidency, his appointments and nominations were hit and miss, both for the government itself and for the party (however, he did a very good job with his judicial nominations).
As for us, we’re going to try real hard to elect a President, a Senate and a House of Representatives, to elect Governors, state legislators, and local office holders from county boards of supervisors to school board members. Our problem isn’t Trump or his people, but the other party. That party uses our tax dollars to trap people into lives of dependency and cheats in elections every way they can.
Thanks for the post. There’s not too much that I disagree with except to qualify your contention that our problem is the other party. Unfortunately the problem is bigger than just the other party. Whether one chooses to look at it through the lens of the Uniparty or in terms of the two party system, the fact is that the Democrats have gained much of the power they currently possess because of the complicity of the Republican establishment.
Any return of government to the people will have to include returning the party apparatus to the people. We should all consider ways that that can be accomplished, whether it’s through more caucuses, less caucus, or some other combination of reforms.