Remember two years ago when Republican voters were angry that Sen. Bob Bennett was not on the primary ballot, since polls showed he was the favorite and would have won. That was the problem of the state GOP convention being hijacked by tea partyers who were unrepresentative of the state's Republicans.

Thankfully, that didn't happen this time — Orrin Hatch was on the ballot. But only because he spent millions and millions of dollars getting his people to the caucuses to elect his delegates.

That doesn't mean that the problem that the Bennett race illuminated is fixed. On the contrary, both races show how dysfunctional Utah's caucus system is in terms of fair representation of voters' wishes, and how it can be warped by money and zealots.

We're one of the few states with such an undemocratic system, and the rest of the country laughs at it. Let's fix it before the next nomination round in two years.

Our forefathers complained of taxation without representation; today, we've got "representation" that isn't representative. Eliminate the unrepresentative middleman delegates, and go straight to the primaries. Let the people rule!

Hal Chasen

Salt Lake City