In Search of Normalcy: What the Two Parties Aren’t Giving America

Before I lodge the complaint that is currently burning a hole in my pocket, I wish to make one thing clear to those who might add a ghostly ergo to its gist: that, for all my sins and foibles, and despite the squishy mood of the case I’m about to offer up, I am not — and never will be — one of them.

You know the type to which I refer: that guy at the bar or cookout or watercooler who believes that the current configuration of our politics is wholly irrational, and that, if it were only to be replaced with the alternative that he has cleverly sketched out, we would swiftly be ushered into a Better America. I am, as I shall soon relate, profoundly irritated by the conduct of the two parties that dominate our constitutional system. But this irritation by no means implies an enthusiasm for the arrival of a bloodless “third way.” I am not an opponent of America’s two-party system — which I think is probably inevitable. I do not think that abolishing the Democratic or Republican Party would improve our situation. I do not favor proportional representation, ranked-choice voting, or the abolition of the Senate or the Electoral College. I do not romanticize independent voters. I do not believe moderation to be a virtue per se. I do not yearn for some fabled lost era of comity and cooperation. And I am not, Lord help me, a fan of the epicene No Labels movement, which, in its typical form, is less an attempt to protect principle from partisanship than an experiment in abandoning conviction altogether.

About the Author

Charles C. W. Cooke

Charles C. W. Cooke is a senior editor at National Review and the host of The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast.

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Before I lodge the complaint that is currently burning a hole in my pocket, I wish to make one thing clear to those who might add a ghostly ergo to its gist: that, for all my sins and foibles, and despite the squishy mood of the case I’m about to offer up, I am not — and never will be — one of them.

You know the type to which I refer: that guy at the bar or cookout or watercooler who believes that the current configuration of our politics is wholly irrational, and that, if it were only to be replaced with the alternative that he has cleverly sketched out, we would swiftly be ushered into a Better America. I am, as I shall soon relate, profoundly irritated by the conduct of the two parties that dominate our constitutional system. But this irritation by no means implies an enthusiasm for the arrival of a bloodless “third way.” I am not an opponent of America’s two-party system — which I think is probably inevitable. I do not think that abolishing the Democratic or Republican Party would improve our situation. I do not favor proportional representation, ranked-choice voting, or the abolition of the Senate or the Electoral College. I do not romanticize independent voters. I do not believe moderation to be a virtue per se. I do not yearn for some fabled lost era of comity and cooperation. And I am not, Lord help me, a fan of the epicene No Labels movement, which, in its typical form, is less an attempt to protect principle from partisanship than an experiment in abandoning conviction altogether.