I agree that our "perpetual campaign" is bad for our democracy, but I think the solution, unfortunately has to be amending the Constitution to allow restrictions on political spending. Then perhaps we could change the calendar in conjunction with other changes. Simply moving primaries without restricting spending (or even prohibiting spending outside of the designated season, as many countries do) would advantage incumbents and not really help with the problem.
The problem with your argument is that we are going to have "perpetual campaigns" in any case here in the USA. Keeping the primaries late doesn't shorten the campaigns. They just lengthen the primary campaigns at the expense of the general election campaigns.
I disagree completely and want it to go the other way. I wish all primaries were in the late summer or fall.
The United States has the longest elections by far and it is absolutely horrible for our democracy.
I agree that our "perpetual campaign" is bad for our democracy, but I think the solution, unfortunately has to be amending the Constitution to allow restrictions on political spending. Then perhaps we could change the calendar in conjunction with other changes. Simply moving primaries without restricting spending (or even prohibiting spending outside of the designated season, as many countries do) would advantage incumbents and not really help with the problem.
The problem with your argument is that we are going to have "perpetual campaigns" in any case here in the USA. Keeping the primaries late doesn't shorten the campaigns. They just lengthen the primary campaigns at the expense of the general election campaigns.