Editorial: California’s election results require patience. That’s a good thing. It requires understanding that the two-party system is not perfect. It requires an understanding that the two-party system is not static. It requires an understanding that many of the ideas we currently hold dear — individual freedom and a free-flowing, robust market economy being chief examples — are built upon a foundation of bedrock truths about human nature.
California’s election results don’t require patience. They require understanding. They require patience. But they also require an understanding that the two-party system is not perfect. They require an understanding that many of the ideas we currently hold dear — individual freedom and a free-flowing, robust market economy being chief examples — are built on bedrock truths about human nature.
To that end, there is a growing sense of desperation about our country, and the prospects for creating the most innovative, vibrant society of the 21st century. And there is a growing sense of hope, too.
In the weeks leading up to this election, the national dialogue has been dominated by a debate that many people are asking: Is there still a place for political parties in our modern, complex, diverse nation?
Some argue there is more than ever, particularly on the national level. I believe that’s because there is more than ever. But there is more than ever in America. There’s still a place for political parties and parties have a place in our democracy. And political parties have a place in our country.
But these days, in the same way that most of the nation’s leaders believe in political parties, many Americans believe they are still relevant. But why? Why are we still so skeptical of parties? Why are they so unpopular?
In a word, it’s because the two-party system has become irrelevant. They are irrelevant in the way that the Roman Empire was irrelevant. It was irrelevant, too. The same thing is happening with political parties. A political party has become more and more irrelevant in today’s world. And, much like the Roman Empire, the political process has become even more and more irrelevant.
This point was driven home to me this month when I traveled to the University of California at Berkeley and witnessed an election there in which voters expressed their dissatisfaction with party politics in a much more visceral way. It was clear that in