Is party discipline anti-democratic?
No, actually party discipline and the party platform are pro-democratic because it complies with requirements for transparency - everyone can know exactly where the party stands on all issues. The party platform and discipline are in opposition to the aristocratic cult of personality worship and candidate charisma. It is actually impossible to trust a politician to do what they say unless you have a platform to refer back to as basis for the constituents desires. Most politicians are former lawyers who are highly trained to argue for anything they are paid to claim - they succeed in secrecy and back room deals without full accountability. Your only chance of a winning dispute with a lawyer is your loyalty to the platform to back up your claim. Voters should make their choices based only on the party platform and then leave candidate selection to the party machine - if the party thinks a person is qualified for the job then so be it. Otherwise, relying on claims of qualifications leads to a quagmire of word competition with no verification possible after a certain point of contention. Voters must not cast a ballot for a charismatic candidate if they don't agree with the platform.