What is going on with Presidential Primaries?

There seems to be a race between the states to be the first to hold Presidential Primaries.  I know that for years there have been complaints that states with later primaries really weren't having any impact because the nominee was already selected but what we're seeing now is ridiculous.

I'm worried that something fishy is going on.

For the forty odd years that I have been politically aware, the primary system was pretty stable with New Hampshire first then Iowa and a few others.  Now every state has a primary of some sort and they are fighting to be first.  I know that I should be applauding this as a good thing but after all of the tricks and electoral manipulations we've seen over the past eight years I can't help but be suspicious.

I'm writing this diary to initiate a discussion of this phenomenom.  I'd like to see what some of the wiser heads and deeper thinkers have considered.  What the possible implications of this race of the primaries may be and how we may be being tricked into playing into someone else's agenda.

Either that or reassure me that this is really all for the best.

I've seen discussions on individual states primaries but I think there needs to be an all encompassing meta discussion.  We need to look at the unintended consequences.