rickyp wrote: But Bernie was the first proclaimed socialist to be a major candidate for a nominartion and he's pushed Hillary way to the left.
It indicates that the young in the US have a different understanding of socialism then their parents. (Although its their parents benefitting most from Medicare and Social Security).
Not sure that Hillary will keep tacking left once the Primaries are over. She would be better advised to try to maintain centre ground and marginalise Trump.
And I don't actually think it is about "understanding" socialism so much as it is a reaction to the current political situation. Just like the Trump supporters, there is an element of rebellion, hero worship and outrage, with populist policies attracting people.
Obviously I like Sanders more than, well any of the other major party candidates. But I have been disappointed by the behaviour of his supporters and some of the unrealistic expectation of his campaign.
Still, Hillary started with a big advantage due to the super-delegate declarations, which meant she was looking like being coronated rather than having to win a tight race. The early primaries, especially in the South (In States that neither Democrat can hope to carry in November) were influenced by that.
It was not a case of being against the rules, or even necessarily "unfair" - Bernie can't demand loyalty from some of the Congressional Democrats he's been arguing against for a couple of decades, and his campaign took a while to gain momentum.
Not sure I agree with your prescription - a single primary day - but the Democrat primaries do seem "broken". Consistency would help both parties to avoid criticism of the unfairness of the process.
But in this year what the main problem has been really is a toxic political culture, with both parties split between establishment hacks and idealistic but in many ways deluded insurgents. A different system of primaries won't stop that sort of thing - if the only candidates available are subpar and the voters lap up idiocy then any system would deliver a bad outcome.