General Discussion

So, your argument that our "EXPERIENCED leaders in Washington and in our State Houses" should never be challenged doesn't make any sense. Every politician has to stand before the voters. The value of fair and open primaries encourages party participation in the process and gives Democratic voters a real voice in the process. That's how a party engages with voters. If they vote in the primaries, they're more likely to vote in the general.

AOC challenged Joe Crowley and won, and say whatever you have to say about it, her presence in the party has helped the Democrats overall. Heck, even Bernie's two campaigns greatly helped Joe Biden win in 2020, and a lot of Bernie's proposals were among the highlights of Biden's presidency. Competition is good for any organization.

Finally, the "weaken Republicans" strategy has been a colossal failure. We will never truly weaken them as a party without having a comprehensive agenda that becomes policy that helps millions of Americans. We cannot get there by being passive, by being this top down organization that dictates who should even run for office.