The Two-Party System Is Not Working—and Not Going Anywhere

We're Trapped in a Politics Defined by Opposition Rather Than Positive Change

The bad news for Republicans is that their party is dead. The “good” news for the party of Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan, William F. Buckley, and Donald Trump is that the Democratic Party also is dead—or maybe even deader.

That was the big takeaway from an August 10th Zócalo panel discussion at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in downtown L.A.’s Little Tokyo district. Titled “Is the Republican Party Dead?” the conversation amounted to a kind of autopsy not only of the GOP, but also of the American two-party system …

By Reed Johnson | August 11, 2017

Before Donald Trump, Wendell L. Willkie Upended the GOP Primary in 1940

The Populist Businessman Known as “The Barefoot Wall Street Lawyer” Took Over His Party’s Convention in Philadelphia

By R. Craig Sautter | July 26, 2016

Later this week, the historic nomination of the first female candidate for president by a major political party at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia is sure to generate considerable …

An Outsider’s Guide to Running—and Losing—a California Election

Pete Peterson, a Republican from Santa Monica, Learned How Much the Deck Is Stacked in Favor of Career Politicians

by Pete Peterson | June 11, 2015

Though Ted White’s classic, The Making of the President, is far better known, the best book I’ve read about what it’s like to run for political office is To Be …

What Did Barry Goldwater Leave Us?

The Libertarianism of ‘Mr. Conservative’ and its Place in America’s Political Future

June 4, 2014

Known as “Mr. Conservative,” Barry Goldwater played a pivotal role in convincing President Nixon to resign in 1974 and in reorganizing the Pentagon in 1986. But even more than what …

Republicans and Democrats, Get Lost

Our Two Parties Have Placed a Stranglehold on Governance, Says Former Republican Congressman Mickey Edwards

October 22, 2012

“Has it ever occurred to you that there’s something wrong with a system where every two years we go to the polls to ‘take the country back’ from the people …

Have Fun Without Me, Tampa

I’m Rooting For Romney—And Staying the Heck Home

by Mike Madrid | August 26, 2012

I’m not going to the Republican National Convention this year.

Truth is, I wasn’t invited. I’m a Republican by registration and a political strategist by profession, but it’s been years since …

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