I gave a virtual talk this week, “Modernizing American Democracy,” and I thought I would share the intro of it, which focused on the ways we could strengthen political parties and move away from a two-party system. Here is a somewhat abridged version of my introduction: |
If I were to ask you to name the big problems with American democracy as constructed by the Constitution, there are a few obvious answers. There’s the fact that the Constitution preserved a slave system that — because of key provisions in the document — grew into a slave society that brought the country to civil war within a few generations of the founding. There’s the fact that the Constitution excludes huge parts of the population — especially women and racial minorities — from the polity. And there’s the fact that certain political compromises, like equal state representation in the Senate, have become major obstacles for anyone interested in functional, responsive government. |
But there’s one major flaw in the Constitution that isn’t often seen as a major flaw: It doesn’t make room for or accommodate political parties. |
The founders famously hated political parties. |
James Madison warned against the ways in which “different leaders ambitiously contending for pre-eminence and power … have, in turn, divided mankind into parties, inflamed them with mutual animosity.” By his lights, political crisis occurred when the government is “violently heated and distracted by the rage of party.” |
In particular, Madison feared parties organized along geography and region. “Should a state of parties arise founded on geographical boundaries and other physical and permanent distinctions which happen to coincide with them, what is to control these great repulsive Masses from awful shocks against each other?” |
John Adams, likewise, worried that “a division of the republic into two great parties” is to be “dreaded as the great political evil.” Alexander Hamilton blamed the English Civil War of the previous century on a people who had been “overwhelmed by the tempestuous waves of sedition and party rage.” |
And George Washington’s farewell address, of course, warned of “the alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, in which different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities.” Washington also worried that partisanship would escalate into “despotism” and that partisan passions would “gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual.” |
Following these warnings, Americans have historically been very receptive to anti-partyism. From Washington onward, our political leaders have bemoaned parties and partisanship. The major reforms of the Progressive Era — the recall election, the referendum, women’s suffrage and direct election of senators — were tied to an anti-party message, a promise that cleaner elections and more accountability meant a less partisan democracy. |
But here’s the thing. The founders (and their anti-party successors) were wrong. |
There’s a reason political parties exist in every single modern democracy. It’s the same reason American democracy, despite the anti-party rhetoric of its founders, developed political parties just a few years after the Constitution was ratified. |
That reason is straightforward: It is impossible to do representative democracy without political parties. Parties organize ordinary citizens into political actors. Parties help them feel represented and give them a stake in the system; they politicize otherwise apolitical people; they transmit information and explain the stakes of law, legislation and elections. Most important, they channel political ambition into constructive service, from volunteering to office-holding to other activities. |
We need political parties, and if there is a major problem with American democracy, it’s that we have far too few. |
My Tuesday column was on the president’s paranoiac campaign and how he is directly and openly threatening to subvert democracy: |
The larger, more important factor is that Trump isn’t actually running for re-election — or at least, not running in the traditional manner. He has a campaign, yes, but it is not a campaign to win votes or persuade the public outside of a few, select slivers of the electorate. Instead, it’s a campaign to hold on to power by any means necessary, using every tool available to him as president of the United States. Caputo, in that sense, is only taking cues from his boss. |
My Friday column was on the latest Facebook revelations and why they are yet another reminder that the platform is a danger to democracy: |
Facebook has been incredibly lucrative for its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, who ranks among the wealthiest men in the world. But it’s been a disaster for the world itself, a powerful vector for paranoia, propaganda and conspiracy-theorizing as well as authoritarian crackdowns and vicious attacks on the free press. Wherever it goes, chaos and destabilization follow. |
I had a long conversation on the “Know Your Enemy” podcast on the uses and abuses of history in political writing, and I did a live chat on Twitter, which you can watch here. |
Krithika Varagur on Oregon’s experiment with policing in The New York Review of Books. |
Samuel Goldman on the rise and fall of Brooks Brothers in First Things magazine. |
If you’re enjoying what you’re reading, please consider recommending it to friends. They can sign up here. If you want to share your thoughts on an item in this week’s newsletter or on the newsletter in general, please email me at jamelle-newsletter@nytimes.com. |
 | | Jamelle Bouie |
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Another night photo, this one of a tire and car-repair shop on a main thoroughfare in Charlottesville, Va. |
Now Eating: Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies |
At some point I may have shared a recipe for tahini chocolate chip cookies that used butter as well as tahini. Well, this recipe is all tahini, and it makes for a chewy cookie with a subtle, nutty flavor. A pro tip about chocolate chip cookies: You’ll get your best results with a blend of flours. I typically use half all-purpose and half cake flour, but I’ve also used half all-purpose and half bread flour. You should experiment and see what works best for your kitchen. |
This recipe comes from Food52. And I think it is possible to make it vegan with a simple egg substitute. |
- ½ cup tahini (I use Soom)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1½ tablespoons cold water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅓ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (or ½ cup all-purpose and ½ plus 1 tablespoon cake flour)
- 1 cup bittersweet chocolate wafers
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Heat the oven to 375° F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. |
Combine the tahini, sugar and brown sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium for a couple of minutes, scraping down with a rubber spatula once or twice. It will be crumbly, not creamy. |
Add the eggs, water and vanilla extract. Continue to mix on medium for another couple of minutes, again scraping every so often. The mixture will look glossy and fudgy. |
Add the salt and baking soda. Mix on low just to combine. Add the flour and mix until almost combined. Then add the chocolate chips and mix again. |
Scoop rounded tablespoons of dough onto the prepared sheet pans. Bake for 10 minutes until the edges are turning golden brown but the centers are still tender. |
Cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before using a spatula to transfer to a cooling rack. Repeat the above with the remaining dough. |
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