Eliminate Primary Elections The best way to greatly reduce the influence of big money in American politics is to eliminate the primary elections. Choosing nominees in primary elections was invented as a reform to get away from those famous "smoke-filled backrooms." That was a reference to the old political machines, which were active in most large American cities. They often played a major role in choosing nominees. As often happens with reforms, the reform has produced a greater problem than the one it was intended to solve. It's true that money is the mother's milk of politics, but it is...