from Kevin Williamson at National Review, The Celebrity Campaign:

If politics is to defend itself against incursions from the world of celebrity-as-such, then it probably is going to need to end up relying on the very thing that Trump et al. have made so much hay railing against: party machines, party elites, and party establishments, powerful gatekeepers who can laugh Sarah Silverman out of the room when she announces her Senate campaign and bring to heel those opportunities and starry-eyed moneymen who might go along with such a nonsensical escapade. That means more closed primaries, more party control over campaign funds, and a stronger party hand in coordinating (which never, never, ever, ever happens!) with outside groups raising money and producing campaign communications. It means more partisanship rather than less, and never mind all that happy horsepucky about the virtues of bipartisanship and post-partisanship.

Like the anti-democratic Senate and the anti-democratic Bill of Rights, parties help to channel popular passions — and celebrity is nothing if not a popular passion — into productive political activity. We have parties for a reason. If anything good comes of the Trump campaign, it will be reminding us of that.

HKO

The Democrats learned this years ago and created the super delegates to maintain control, and even that only barely worked this time.  The framers of the constitution understood the limits of democracy; they understood that democracy and demagogue come from the same root. The party leaders should actually exercise some leadership.

Democracy only functions well within its strict guidelines like the Constitution. Otherwise it quickly descends into demagoguery and power in the worst possible hands.

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