Yes, our political parties have become glorified brands, but is this necessarily a bad thing?

....Today’s Democrats and Republicans inherit their names from the mass party era, but they are fundamentally different things.  State and local political machines have largely been replaced by candidate-centered organizations.  The local bosses who organized torch-lit parades have been replaced by political consultants and pollsters who craft TV and radio ads.  Money has always been important in American politics, but the local grandee who financed the older party machine has largely been replaced by billionaire donors who may live nowhere near a particular state or district and may be more concerned with ideological purity than with effective governance.

We may bemoan their decline, but the mass parties were victims of social trends and political reforms that are mostly for the better and are unlikely to be reversed.  In addition to selecting candidates, the parties used to perform a number of functions which are better performed by other organizations in a modern society.