...that the parties are not necessarily democracies.

The Constitution only defines the general election for the president. All of this caucus and primary stuff (I almost said "nonsense") is the work of the parties -- the rules of the parties. Each state has its own election law and each party has its own rules for "electing" delegates.

None of this federally legislated.

So to all the small states with disproportionate influence, well, they have no reason to change. And to all the big states who have to weigh in on what's left, tough nutty. I do not share in this general distaste for early small states and the caucus system. Victory goes to those who show up and that is exactly as it should be.

This is NOT an election people.

This is party members choosing delegates to a party convention. You can join the party and caucus. If you can get enough like-minded friends to come in and wrest control away from the elitist assholes, guess what? You CAN! But why should you be able to dislodge a party hack who got there by working month after month and year after year for the party? Why should this be as easy as pressing a button? I think that's a load of crap.

In order to change things in the party, you have to organize and work and be active. I think the caucus system is the only part of this junk heap that is not fundamentally broken. Sure, it is a relic of good old machine politics, but you can rebuild the machine. And if you aren't willing to work hard enough to rebuild the machine, then I don't see that you should be able to throw out the men and women who did that work to get there, to become the system.

This is what parties are for and why we identify ourselves as members of party.