(07-24-2018 08:52 AM)bullet Wrote:  https://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles...10725.html

Another take on what holds parties together or breaks them apart.

"...As intuitive as this view is, it misses one of the central functions of political parties, which is to hide disagreement between their members and thus make them appear more unified than they really are. Strong leadership actually becomes more necessary as conflicting concerns within a coalition proliferate. Accordingly, to understand our current political environment, we need to reorient our view of what parties do...."

The primary system precludes the idea of strong leadership. The leadership instead of being a gatekeeper who controls access to the ballot and party resources is instead ad hoc financial coalitions.