LEXINGTON once asked America’s most successful centrist to explain the strength of the two-party system, in a country that views those same parties with scorn. The problem is tribal loyalties, replied Michael Bloomberg, then in his final days as mayor of New York, in late 2013. Running for national office as an independent is “just not practical”, explained Mr Bloomberg, a technocratic billionaire who looked into, then decided against, a non-party presidential run in 2008. Such a big share of the population “will vote the party line no matter what your policies are”, he sighed. “That may not be good, but that is true.”
Now the Michael Bloomberg of early 2016 hears calls to think again. For the main parties may be about to pick presidential nominees who repel all but the most tribal voters. The chances are rising that Republicans will choose either Donald Trump, a snarling demagogue, or Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a glib and calculating tribune of the hard-right. The presumed Democratic front-runner, Hillary Clinton, is struggling to hold off her leftist rival Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, whose plans would by his own admission require a...Continue reading
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