The Hollow Parties: The Many Pasts and Disordered Present of American Party Politics

The authors are passionate believers in the vital role that the major political parties should play in American democracy, one they fear both parties have relinquished over the past half century. They track the ways strong parties in the past connected individuals to the institutions that govern them: framing the major political choices, choosing candidates, and holding them accountable to those agreed purposes. They channeled electoral politics into a healthy back-and-forth grounded in real policy choices. Instead, the authors argue, beginning in the 1970s, both parties were undermined by an unaccountable collection of groups and individuals, including talk radio hosts and cable news personalities, single-issue activist groups, semi-independent political action committees dedicated to fundraising, and billionaire megadonors. The result has been inefficacy on the Democratic side and growing extremism rooted in grievance among Republicans. They see some bright shoots for the future—for instance, a recent episode of party renewal carried out by Democrats in Nevada—as reason for hope. But they argue that only “repeated and substantial” electoral losses will convince the Republicans to change course. Reforms to return power to the parties, they argue, are necessary to end today’s political polarization and policy drift.