End the Amateur Hour- End Most Caucuses, Close the Primaries, Reform the Super Delegates

This past weekend, Nevada held it's state Democratic Convention. It turned into a complete debacle- but one that ultimately preserved the will of the people. In February, Hillary Clinton won the Nevada Caucuses, but due to error, appeared to be losing after the counties held their conventions. On Saturday, a bunch of Sanders delegates showed up not registered as Democrats, a requirement to participate in a party convention, and were disqualified, giving Clinton back her narrow lead. This set off a bunch of ugliness. Fortunately, the person who won the actual caucuses ultimately won the convention, but everyone looked stupid for it.

Then there's the case of Maine, an equally ridiculous situation. Bernie Sanders won the state, and so his delegates took the extraordinary measure of trying to bound their state's future super-delegates to voting for the candidate who wins their state. Aside from the fact that this rule would not change the current Democratic race one iota (in fact, it would have already basically insured a Clinton nomination), it is also something that Maine's convention has zero authority to do. This power rests alone with the DNC, who sets the rules for it's own nomination contest. If the Maine Democratic Party pushes this issue, the likely outcome is that the DNC will just strip them of their super-delegates.

The fact of the matter is that Hillary Clinton is beating Bernie Sanders fair and square, by every single metric possible. Most of the anger about the process is caused by ignorance to the rules, the process, and the fact that this is a Democratic Party nomination. Even so, when you can't institute your own rules cleanly, without ugly incidents like we've seen so far, you leave a lot of people disappointed. The Democratic Party would be well-advised to clean up their process.

Here's my ideas for reform:

1. End almost every caucus- I'm only going to say "almost every" for a reason- Iowa manages to run their process without the kinds of chaotic scenes we're seeing in Nevada and Maine every four years, because they're not amateur caucusers. Caucuses in general are UnDemocratic, and reward the loudest, most fanatical supporters, over the "commoners" that make up most of the party. The closed time period around caucuses, the drawn-out process, the confusing rules, and the several steps in the process are clearly causing problems, anger, and results that don't match the overall will of the public. In Nebraska, Hillary Clinton lost the caucus by 14% with a much smaller turnout, then won the primary by over 20% with a much, much larger one. We want more people in the process, not less. I'd make every state but Iowa move to a primary system, or at least show major reforms to their caucus process to fix these issues.
2. Close the primaries- This is the Democratic Party's nomination, not the nomination for whoever feels like taking part. Different states have different rules about registering for a party primary, and that's fine, but it's not too much to ask that people who want to vote in the Democratic Party's nomination fight show some level of commitment to the Democratic Party. To be clear, this is not infringing on your democratic rights as a citizen- it's your choice whether or not to comply with registration rules, and you still get your November vote. People who actually commit to the party though don't tend to cause the kind of chaos that we saw in Las Vegas this past Saturday. They also had to take the time to know the rules, and be informed about the process they are complaining about.
3. Bind most of the super-delegates- I have no problem with the idea that we give members of Congress, Governors, Lt. Governors, and other party leaders an automatic vote at the convention, in fact I think it provides some order to the process. I do tend to agree with the people though who think that 700+ unbound delegates in a process of a little over 4,700 total delegates seems a bit chaotic. While it hasn't happened, what if the 700 plus super-delegates over-turned a narrow victory in the pledged delegates for a candidate they didn't like? I would bind the members of Congress to vote with their Congressional districts, and those who gain their status through a state party position to the will of their states. I'm not 100% sure this would bound every super-delegate, but it would at least nearly do so, and would insure the peoples' will is met. Mind you, even my rule would not give Bernie Sanders the nomination, and in fact would insure he didn't have a chance at this point. The "wild card" of free agent delegates wondering the floor is the only reason a candidate down by almost 300 pledged delegates at the 75% mark can even continue to run, so buyer beware of what i'm proposing.
4. Delegates Should Sign a Loyalty Oath- If you want to vote in our convention, for our nominee, commit to supporting our nominee in November. No "or bust," "PUMA," or any other childish threats from a group of delegates if they don't get their way. You're in or you're out. This is a party event, it's not a right of any random person, it's a privilege of leadership extended by the Democratic Party. Either agree to be on the team, or you can maintain your right of dissent by not going to the convention. This isn't asking too much.
5. Move to a "Winner Take Most" Delegate System- Prior to Jesse Jackson's Presidential campaigns in the 1980s, some Democratic Primaries were "Winner Take All" contests. This disenfranchised large groups within the party and marginalized many voters. In an effort to avoid that, the Democratic Party has moved to a virtually entire "proportional" system. This has allowed consecutive nominating processes to carry on long past the point they were decided. In 2008, it was at least mildly close, but in 2016 it's ridiculous. In future contests, I'd apportion a majority of the delegates from each state automatically to the winner of the state, then apportion the remainder proportionally to make sure all communities of interest are represented. It makes victories matter a lot more, and actually puts some teeth behind winning the close fights in states.

The different rules we have in every state right now cause confusion and chaos. Too many states have shown themselves incapable of cleanly running their process without confusion. Too many people are ignorant to the rules of the process, and that is because the process is different in each state. Some states pick between having a caucus or a primary based on the price of the event, or even dumber criteria, and that's just not acceptable. The DNC should standardize this process moving forward, right down to the number of debates, and avoid any future confusion for the voters.