Almost five years ago (111320), I pointed out the charade of our two political parties (the Dems being only marginally better off than the GOP) and called for a reformulation of the structure of our partisan system. The Biden interregnum—focused as it was on being more anti-Trump than something innovative—did little to stop the deflation and distraction of the Democrats. Their reaction to the loss last year has been aimless and incoherent and is reflected in dire drops in popular support (both voter registrations and fund-raising). The Republicans, while organizationally stronger, have wholly gone over to the cult of personality and nihilism.
So, I observed with considerable interest the announcement last July of the establishment of the America Party. Now, the principal sponsor of this new organization is none other than the inimitable Elon Musk, whose outsized personality ensures attention to any of his proposals. His remarkable business success (PayPal, Tesla, Starlink, SpaceX, X (nee Twitter), Boring Company, etc.) has lately been overshadowed by his bizarre dabbling in government reorganization (DOGE). Still, he has been the country’s most successful serial entrepreneur and even if his political nous is spotty, he has a track record for start-ups. The America party may, however, be stillborn. In August, Musk indicated that he was refocusing on the ailments at Tesla (he’s hardly been in the press for months); and it’s not clear whether the party will ever get off the ground. Given Musk’s substantive policy predilections, however, this may not be a great loss to our political culture.
At the time I wondered whether any number of more center-left billionaires would similarly sponsor a new party (Bloomberg?, Soros?). Fund raising would not be a problem, and expertise can be quickly hired (of course substantive political leadership is much harder to find and any likely standard-bearer would likely be wary of being seen as a hired shill).
Perhaps a more promising approach could be getting a bunch of such folks to each chip in (say, $100M each) into a party incubator. We would need 6-10 folks with different political views or who had no particular political profile to ensure that the funds would not come with any particular agenda attached.
The project would be overseen by a set of perceptive worthies from across the political spectrum who would be charged with spinning off three or four new partisan entities. Instead of our current donkey and elephant symbolism, we could have an eagle, whale, bison, and salmon (or some such). Groups of polticos would pitch their ideologies/platforms/organizational capabilities to this panel who would choose the most coherent and capable to contest future elections. Given our current selection, we need to repopulate civil society and reboot our political culture.
This approach would accelerate the development of a new political culture in this country. Multiple entities would reframe the issues facing the country, provide platforms for new potential leaders, and garner lots of attention. They would be well funded and not tied to any current organization or ideology or personality.
It would be a radical re-set for the country. There is a long history of popular interest in independent candidates and “third” parties in this country. However, efforts over the past few decades (John Anderson (1980), Ross Perot/Reform Party (1992/96/2000), Ralph Nader (2000/04) have mostly been vehicles for individuals. Most fringe parties (e.g. Libertarian, Peace and Freedom) have been based on marginal ideologies and have thus had to struggle for funding.
Incubators have popped up all over as places to spur the development of technology projects, sometimes in academe, sometimes as vehicles for venture capitalists. Philanthropies use them, too, to help nascent non-profits get off the ground. In this sense, politics may not be so different as a field of activity. Bringing together money, mentors, dreamers, and doers without a sanctioned or pre-conceived set of policies or philosophies is a different way to think about moving past our current decimated political landscape.
So, I observed with considerable interest the announcement last July of the establishment of the America Party. Now, the principal sponsor of this new organization is none other than the inimitable Elon Musk, whose outsized personality ensures attention to any of his proposals. His remarkable business success (PayPal, Tesla, Starlink, SpaceX, X (nee Twitter), Boring Company, etc.) has lately been overshadowed by his bizarre dabbling in government reorganization (DOGE). Still, he has been the country’s most successful serial entrepreneur and even if his political nous is spotty, he has a track record for start-ups. The America party may, however, be stillborn. In August, Musk indicated that he was refocusing on the ailments at Tesla (he’s hardly been in the press for months); and it’s not clear whether the party will ever get off the ground. Given Musk’s substantive policy predilections, however, this may not be a great loss to our political culture.
At the time I wondered whether any number of more center-left billionaires would similarly sponsor a new party (Bloomberg?, Soros?). Fund raising would not be a problem, and expertise can be quickly hired (of course substantive political leadership is much harder to find and any likely standard-bearer would likely be wary of being seen as a hired shill).
Perhaps a more promising approach could be getting a bunch of such folks to each chip in (say, $100M each) into a party incubator. We would need 6-10 folks with different political views or who had no particular political profile to ensure that the funds would not come with any particular agenda attached.
The project would be overseen by a set of perceptive worthies from across the political spectrum who would be charged with spinning off three or four new partisan entities. Instead of our current donkey and elephant symbolism, we could have an eagle, whale, bison, and salmon (or some such). Groups of polticos would pitch their ideologies/platforms/organizational capabilities to this panel who would choose the most coherent and capable to contest future elections. Given our current selection, we need to repopulate civil society and reboot our political culture.
This approach would accelerate the development of a new political culture in this country. Multiple entities would reframe the issues facing the country, provide platforms for new potential leaders, and garner lots of attention. They would be well funded and not tied to any current organization or ideology or personality.
It would be a radical re-set for the country. There is a long history of popular interest in independent candidates and “third” parties in this country. However, efforts over the past few decades (John Anderson (1980), Ross Perot/Reform Party (1992/96/2000), Ralph Nader (2000/04) have mostly been vehicles for individuals. Most fringe parties (e.g. Libertarian, Peace and Freedom) have been based on marginal ideologies and have thus had to struggle for funding.
Incubators have popped up all over as places to spur the development of technology projects, sometimes in academe, sometimes as vehicles for venture capitalists. Philanthropies use them, too, to help nascent non-profits get off the ground. In this sense, politics may not be so different as a field of activity. Bringing together money, mentors, dreamers, and doers without a sanctioned or pre-conceived set of policies or philosophies is a different way to think about moving past our current decimated political landscape.
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