The Way Forward

They were afraid of weakening Biden so rather than run a neutral primary they suppressed it into non-existence.

I understand their thinking. Hindsight is 20-20. But would the party and country have been better served if Biden had his debate short-circuit against a primary challenger rather than Trump? The administration and party could have shifted gears immediately--maybe even creating a midterm succession to Harris which might encourage the other candidates to step down. Harris gets to step in and show her chops to the voters as well as firmly establish her platform outside Biden's shadow.

It's just a thought exercise, but as far as how it applies to the way forward: trust Democracy. The primary process is scary because it exposes our candidates, but in the long run it makes our candidates stronger because it gives frustrated voices a chance to be heard and allows us to see and fix weaknesses before they're exposed in the general election.

New way forward: stop short-cutting the primary process & trust Democracy.