I understand it's the way it is, and I just have to live with it, but it feels wrong to me. I am a US citizen. I have paid taxes my whole life, I should get a voice in who our elected officials are, and who is nominated for president of the US. I should not be shunted aside if I'm not willing to declare as a Dem or Rep until the final vote, only allowed to vote for the two people the parties decided should be my choice.
But whatever, it's reality, I just need to deal with it. It was already reality (this hasn't really changed anything), it just was a slap in the face basically, forcing me to declare in order to have any say at all.
The parties are heavily linked to the government but are still considered private organizations.