Primaries - Democrats and Republicans vs Independents

Democrats and Republicans are clubs. Each spends a great deal of time and money on communications, primaries, etc. for the benefit of their members. People can join any club; it’s voluntary. There are other, smaller, political clubs including Libertarian, Green, Socialist and others that people may join.

It seems more and more, Americans are choosing not to join any club and call themselves Independents. That is of course their right. But when Independents (who do not belong to any club) complain they cannot vote in one of the club’s primaries, it sounds like whining to me. There is no reason they should be allowed to vote in a club’s primary they are not a member of. For example, why would Republican club members want Democratic club members to be able to vote in a State’s GOP primary, perhaps just so they could vote for a “weak” GOP candidate?

Independents are welcome to not join any club. They still get to vote in the general election. BUT, if they want to vote for a candidate in the primaries, they need to be a member of one of the clubs. If they want, they could create their own club. Perhaps create an IND-DEM club for liberal leaning Independents and an IND-GOP club for conservative leaning Independents. This year, the IND-DEM club could have nominated Bernie Sanders so he could run in the general election. 

My message to Independents -

I respect your right to vote. Your vote is equal to mine. But if you want a free ride by piggybacking on my Democratic club without helping to support all the work necessary to put on primaries and vote year after year for Democratic candidates, go take a hike!

P.S. Bernie Sanders does not have the strength of his convictions. He is a self-professed Socialist. But instead of running as a Socialist in his State, he has run as an Independent for 30 years (is he ashamed of being a Socialist?). Now he wants to use the infrastructure of the Democratic Party, where he has never belonged, to run his national campaign. He too can go take a hike!