General Discussion

"Blue no matter who" can mean a steady slide to the right and little or no input from the rank and file - we have no leverage. But withholding support from Democrats can just mean that Republicans win. It really is an unsolvable problem - "you can't get there from here."

The system of using primaries to choose the party's candidates came in response to people's frustration with the so-called "smoke-filled rooms" - that is to say, party bosses working opaquely to determine who the candidates would be. In 1968 rank and file Democrats were supporting McCarthy, McGovern, and Bobby Kennedy for president, but the bosses choose Humphrey, or so many people thought.

I think the conundrum could be solved through a system of representative democracy within the party. But of course those with power - money - will always be trying to exercise that power. Just about everything is a matter of shut up and do what the bosses tell you to do, until and unless there are massive changes in the social, economic and political arrangements under which we live.