America needs a new alternative 

It’s time for a new choice for America. Increasingly, it looks like the 2024 presidential race will just be a divisive replay of 2020 rather than unify the country. Extreme elements of the Democrats and the Republicans have devolved into warring factions tearing the country apart in a no-holds barred battle for political power rather than coming together to solve our problems.  

That’s why No Labels is working to get on the ballot in almost every state, creating an opportunity for a moderate, centrist candidacy to challenge the status quo.   

Imagine instead of the same old choices again that in 2024 there was for the first time in well over a hundred years a true third way. This new path would not have to cater to the ideological groups on the right or the left. It would not have to serve one caucus or another. It could form a national unity government and propose bold bipartisan solutions to problems and actually fix things like our borders and yet also act with compassion for the millions of DACA immigrants that are here. It could secure Social Security and Medicare for the next generation while moving us back to a balanced budget. And it could find a middle ground in the culture wars that are tearing us apart.  

We can restore our government to one of the people again and not of the parties. George Washington’s greatest fear is coming true. In his farewell address he warned that the political parties could become “potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government…” 

The results of this increasingly bitter fight fueled by social media is evident in our $31 trillion national debt, an economy rife with inflation, borders and crime out of control, an educational system that is falling our kids, a health care system that costs too much, and social programs that are running out of money. An overwhelming majority of the electorate believes the country is on the wrong track.  

Our hope was that from this presidential race new candidates would emerge that could reach across the aisle and unite the country. This could still happen, but the odds are dropping. Joe Biden has failed to bring the nation together and sits with an approval rating in the low 40s while he attacks the Maga Republicans as anti-democratic and “semi-fascist.” Donald Trump is mired in fights with virtually everyone, stirring a populist base, but turning off the swing suburban voters who will decide the next election. The only way either of these men could get elected in 2024 is if they are the only choices on the ballot. One of them by necessity would win, but the country would lose. It would be no closer to healing its wounds or solving its problems.  

This is a unique moment in American history in which dissatisfaction with the parties, the candidates and the state of the country is so high that a middle of the road alternative could draw equally from both parties and win the presidency. Our polling shows that 60 percent would consider a centrist choice if the presidential race is Trump against Biden. A unity ticket of a Democrat and a Republican would start out with 20 percent against these candidates and would only need in the mid-30s to win the election and take more than the needed 270 electoral votes.  

It is this very real possibility that is instilling fear in the ruling parties. They are yelling “spoiler” and attacking the idea even before there is a candidate or a platform. It’s no surprise they don’t want Americans to have a real choice outside of the ones they provide. They want to stop No Labels from even getting a ballot line, filing groundless law suits that expose them as wanting “democracy” only when they control it all. 

Instead of complaining about a new alternative, the parties could easily make this effort unnecessary by doing something together about the big problems we face, by finding new candidates that will unify the country, and by moving their platforms more to the center. Instead, they appear to be on the opposite course. 

That’s why we are laying the groundwork for a potential new alternative to serve as an insurance policy against the parties failing to meet the needs of American people for fresh leadership. Everyone should welcome this new choice. 

Margaret White executive director of No Labels.