On the Dangers for Democracy of Weak Political Parties

In light of yesterday’s Supreme Court argument about the First Amendment rights of political parties in the campaign finance system, NYU’s Democracy Project today is publishing this essay from Tabatha Abu El-Haj and Didi Kuo. Their essay is titled: Building Associational Parties .

Here’s a brief excerpt:

Our political system is failing because our political parties are failing.

Americans want an effective government , but they don’t believe that our political parties can govern well. Wary of politics and cynical about self-serving politicians, a plurality of Americans eschew party labels—a trend particularly pronounced among voters born after 1965. Indeed, in many states, including Alaska , Arizona , Colorado , Maine , Massachusetts , Nevada , and North Carolina ,