The system is this way because the people in charge of the system want it to be this way. It’s not about entitlement. You need small states to start the process so that candidates can make mistakes and learn. Small states also are less expensive to campaign in. There are plenty of people who like Rick Santorum here, as an example, and he’d be a non-entity if Florida were the state with the first primary. The candidates like it this way and the two major political parties like it this way.
“You need small states to start the process so that candidates can make mistakes and learn.”
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Assuming that discriminating against large states is the way to go, why is the Stupid Party selecting small blue/purple states and allowing “independents” (crossover Democrats) to vote to pick the GOP nominee?
I’d be more impressed with the small state argument if the small states chosen were those that voted heavily Republican in the last presidential election.