Give the Parties Autonomy to Select Candidates However They Will

   Oh, this wonderful debate on the caucus-convention system. It gives me three ideas, three thoughts on how to elect our public officials.
   Today, Idea One: It is said, the state should not be dictating to the parties how to select their candidates. So, here's the idea: Give the parties complete autonomy over their own business.  Let them select their candidates how they will and on their own terms, and as provide however many for each office as they like. But their autonomy must be just that. They must be completely autonomous. They lose their favored status, their special access to the ballot. This means that if other candidates are required to get a certain number of signatures to earn spots on the ballot, so will the candidates of the parties. Or, if candidates fielded by the parties are not required to obtain signatures, neither will the other candidates be required to do so.
   More: There will there be no party primary funded by the state. Nope, not any more. If the parties choose to have primaries, they will fund and run them on their own.
   Now, there will still be a state primary, but it will come after the political parties have selected their candidates. The state primary will include all who apply for office, including those who choose no party. The state primary will reduce the number of candidates to two or three, as the top two vote-getters will advance and, if a third candidate pulls 25 percent of the vote, that candidate will also advance to the general election.