"Political sociopaths" - Vet Potential Candidates to Weed Out

Bring Back the Smoke-Filled Room - After Trump vs. Clinton, party insiders should get more say in picking a nominee who can win.

Excerpt:

Reports that the GOP as we know it is dead may be premature, but it’s clear that the party is in worse shape than its rival. “Astonishingly, the 2016 Republican presidential race has been dominated by a candidate who is not, in any meaningful sense, a Republican,” wrote Jonathan Rauch of the Brookings Institution in the Atlantic magazine over the summer. “The second-place candidate, Republican Senator Ted Cruz, built his brand tearing down his party’s [brand]: slurring the Senate Republican leader, railing against the Republican establishment, and closing the government as a career move.”

Mr. Rauch, who described Messrs. Sanders, Cruz and Trump as “political sociopaths—meaning not that they are crazy, but that they don’t care what other politicians think about their behavior and they don’t need to care,” called for both parties to reform in ways that make nomination procedures less democratic by giving insiders a bigger role. Let parties coordinate with candidates. Lift limits on donations to the parties so that the money isn’t diverted to less-accountable outside groups. Force potential candidates to get permission to run as a Democrat or Republican from elected officials who can vet them.

Comment: Image source. My view for the GOP: To be included in a GOP primary debate, one should have some track record: GOP Governor, GOP House member, or GOP Senate member.