Bernie Sanders says Democrats should get rid of closed primaries. Is he right?

Have I wondered into Alice's World through the looking glass? This must be the third time I've agreed with COL Ted Mc. However, Bernie, not so much... Which "American Rights" are being violated. I don't think the Constitution makes any mention of political parties. If you don't like the one to which you belong... (Wait a minute. When did Bernie join the Democratic Party?)

As a registered Democrat, should I have a voice in who is the GOP nominee? I don't get the argument for open primaries as only members of a union can vote on its leaders, only residents of a state or district can vote for its senators or congressmen, so why should non-Democrats have a say in who the Democratic party nominates? Why should non-Republicans have a say in who the GOP nominates?

If you really care about who a given party nominates, JOIN THAT PARTY. Its free, and in most states very fast and easy.

We have closed primaries in FL, and I actually don't like them. I'm an independent. Not meaning that I don't agree with the positions of both the republicans and democrates, but rather I agree with some of the postions of both parties. So I don't blindly vote party line regardless of the person involved. Especially for presidential elections, where the truth is it is much more important what the individual candidate says he/she believes on various policy matters, rather than what is in the party platform put together at the convention. No president ever follows the party platform.

So because I'm not sure whether I will vote for the republican or democratic candidate for president, does that mean I should have to abandon any say in who those candidates are? IMO, obviously no. If I am looking at for example, Hillary and Bernie, or Trump and Cruz, and I feel like one or the other is particularly qualified to be president (OK, this particular year it's more a case of who is least not-qualified rather than who is most qualified) I believe I should be able to influence who makes it to the final two.

But I really don't have an issue with it, since there is a work around. What independents have to do is evaluate the candidates, and then decide which race is more important to cast your vote for, and register for that party. You just have to be paying enough attention to politics to know when the dealine for changing parties is.

I have been in some states where independents can vote in one primary, but not both. So it has the same effect of what I do now, but without the hassle of having to reregister. I believe that is the best way to go. I believe the party registration is meaningless and that citizens should be able to vote in the primaries for the candidate they feel is best, regardless of party. Besides, the first time I ever heard of someone advocating that party members switch to vote in primaries as a negative manipulation was when Rush Limbaugh started Operation chaos in 2008 to try and keep Obama from winning the nomination. Funny how the republicans seem to go out of their way to try and bastardize the voting process at every opportunity.