What a Mess
Reading the coverage of the Texas caucus results, and particularly this post at Cogitamus, reminds me once again that the more I learn about how the US chooses it's president, the more convinced I am that the system is totally FUBAR'd and in need of a serious overhaul.
The Republicans ended up with the guy who was basically everybody else's alternate choice, and the Democrats find themselves with two really good candidates for once, which is leading to a self-destructive circular firing squad between their supporters. There's the primaries, caucuses, conventions, the primacaucusaurus of Texas, state and convention delegates, and the wondrous interplay of the superdelegates, and that's just the prelims. Once we get to the general election, we get to play with the wild and wonderful electoral college.
Add to that the ridiculous sums of money it takes to be considered a competitive candidate and the virtual shutting out of any third party chances, plus the outdated first past the post system that makes any third party candidate an almost automatic spoiler for whichever of the two party's appear closer to said individual's positions.
This is seriously one of the most messed up ways to choose a leader I'm aware of, (though of course still better than (more) non-democratic means).
