Very interesting points here, which among other things suggest that regardless of how badly last week’s debate hurt Biden’s chances, Democrats don’t really have the institutional capability to pick someone else.<\/p>\n
If you decide after delving into the data that you need to warn \u201cDemocrats\u201d about something and you give them a call, it turns out there\u2019s nobody picking up the phone. Of course, the DNC and RNC do exist and they have staffers in the building who will literally pick up the phone. But the party committees don\u2019t amount to anything. Neither do the quadrennial national conventions. Neither do the state parties. We have a lot of partisanship<\/em>, but that\u2019s largely negative partisanship, not affective affiliation with the party you usually vote for. The parties barely exist as institutions, but beyond that, even to the extent that they exist as a loose constellation of related entities, those entities lack social legitimacy and can\u2019t steer events.<\/p>\n
That presents itself most obviously in the spectacle of willfully nominated unpopular presidential contenders. But it arguably has more dire implications in terms of the difficulties it creates for setting priorities and making political decisions \u2014 if the public\u2019s desires and interests can\u2019t be constructively channeled through political parties, then we\u2019re more likely to ping pong between stasis and demagoguery.<\/p>\n
Democracy needs political parties, and the United States of America doesn\u2019t really have them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n