The Center Collapses

With the midterm elections on the horizon, a little foray into American domestic politics

Author’s note: While I usually prefer to avoid domestic politics entirely, the upcoming midterm elections, as well as overwhelming popular demand from my readers, have pushed me to write this article regarding issues I know everyone who follows me cares about deeply. And perhaps my non-American readers can learn a little something about how our system functions… or doesn’t function.

Last Monday, September 14, marked the 50-day milestone before the critical midterm elections in the United States in which the American people will partake in the sacred democratic ritual of selecting 435 U.S. representatives, 35 U.S. senators, 36 state governors, and thousands of other state, municipal and local officials. However, for more than half of Americans, November 3 is merely the finish line of a monthslong news cycle of electoral noise— noise they have opted to tune out. And this practice comes as no surprise, considering historical trends. While presidential turnout has, since the early 20^th century, usually winded up at around 60% of eligible voters, midterm turnout bottoms out somewhere in the low-to-mid 40s. When the White House is no longer on the line, the motivation to drive to your local polling station, or even walk to the mailbox to drop in your ballot, drops dramatically.

While low turnout in November midterms is nothing to panic over, the real rot in America’s electoral system lies not with the midterms themselves, but some of the processes that rig the game. In the old days of American politics, candidates were chosen by committees of so-called Democratic and Republican party “bosses” who would ensure their preferred candidate would be elected… or at least nominated to represent their respective party. The epitome of such a scheme was Chicago under the corrupt Mayor Richard J. Daley, who ruled the Windy City as a de facto CEO between 1955 and his death in 1976. Daley exercised his power through 49 (not including Daley himself in the 11^th Ward) Democratic loyalist committeemen in each of Chicago’s 50 wards, who, in turn, controlled thousands of so-called precinct captains with vast patronage networks who ensured all government jobs such as sanitation workers and police officers, and their families and friends, would reliably pull the lever for Daley’s preferred committeemen in every election.

Daley’s political order is now widely known, pejoratively, as the Chicago Machine.

Flawed as the Daley Machine of the 20^th century was, what has replaced it is an alternative even more corrosive to our core values than the ultimate Chicago boss could have ever foreseen. Yes, most 20^th-century American political machines were less brazen than Daley’s. Instead of a blatant quid pro quo, the more conventional machine apparatus usually encompassed a network of donors and operatives who ensured that outsider candidates were starved of resources or media attention. While this process may seem unethical, we must not forget that such machines were, for decades, highly successful in keeping American politics as close to the center as possible. However, the 21^st century has witnessed the complete obliteration of this model.

For any foreigners reading this essay, the American political order relies on a system known as popular primaries. Every election cycle, both Democrats and Republicans must achieve the single-most votes in these primaries in order to represent their parties in the November general election. Sounds simple, right? The catch is not how these primaries function, but who chooses to vote in them. During the 20^th century and into the 21^st, primaries were dominated by insiders with a stake in the status quo. Now, the predominant participants in these primaries are decidedly dogmatic activists whose main goal is not to choose the most competent individual, but to promote most committed ideologue candidates devoted to utterly humiliating the opposition through brutal partisan warfare. And neither side is innocent.

On the Republican side, the nominee for one of the three seats on the executive board of the Texas Railroad Commission (which despite its name is chiefly responsible for regulating the state’s massive oil and gas industry) is a fringe conservative operative by the name of Bo French. While Mr. French seems to have little interest in French culture, he does have a profound interest in racial provocation. For example, last year, French posted on X a since-deleted poll asking his followers whether Jews or Muslims were a greater threat to America. The post was condemned by the Texas Republican establishment, including Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who insisted that “Bo French’s words do not reflect my values nor the values of the Republican Party.” French’s racist flamethrowing has drifted so far off the ledge of common decency that he has even demanded the deportation of… Native Americans.

Yet somehow, last May, French defeated Jim Wright, the incumbent backed by the Texas Republican establishment, by a mere 14,348 votes. In context, while there are more than 18 million registered voters in the entire state of Texas, only 7% of them, around 1.3 million, showed up to vote. And those who did, it seems, were primarily enthused by French’s rage bait provocations than any serious consideration of the complexities of petroleum extraction. Now, French is in a world of trouble after yet another provocative social media post criticizing the high share of Indian American students at a University of Texas football game in Austin. For French, the backlash is so severe that even Karl Rove, the granddaddy of old-school Republican political operatives, is planning to vote for the Democrat over him. Talk about self-sabotage by a small clique of Texans more committed to political warfare than effective governance.

On the Democratic side, this year’s election cycle, inspired by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s shock victory in the Democratic primary last year over former New York governor and establishment favorite Andrew Cuomo (yes, the brother of Chris), has been buffeted by a deluge of long-term Democratic incumbents toppled by radical socialists in the same vein as Mamdani. Such a transformation of the Democratic party is most evident not only in New York but in Chicago. Instead of relying on ward bosses and precinct captains, candidates running for the Chicago City Council (which now comprises six card-carrying Democratic Socialists) in Democratic primaries now must receive the blessing of die-hard progressives and far-left unions, led by the notorious Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) whose core demands far exceed traditional labor concerns such as wages and working conditions.

Instead of the conventional demands of brick-and-mortar labor unions, the CTU prides itself on the philosophy of bargaining for the common good. According to the Illinois Policy Institute, the CTU uses the collective bargaining process “to tackle issues such as racial justice, climate justice and immigration at the bargaining table rather than in the normal democratic process.” Talk about arrogance. For example, the CTU also demands “police-free schools” and other far-left utopian delusions. Meanwhile, instead of reining in the radicals, as Richard Daley would have certainly done, current Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson openly encourages them. In fact, Johnson was even one of the main organizers of the nationally publicized 2012 teacher’s strike. Without the support and massive organizing apparatus of the CTU in his election campaign in 2023, there is no chance in hell a radical like Brandon Johnson could have ever been elected to such a powerful office.

Finally, we must not forget the destructive influence of gerrymandering. And again, neither party is innocent. In 2024, despite receiving 47% of the vote, Illinois Republicans only snagged three out of the Land of Lincoln’s 17 congressional districts. Likewise, Florida Democrats, while achieving 42% of the vote in the same election cycle, only snagged eight out of the Sunshine State’s 28 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. When politicians decide to draw maps that maximize their own potential, diluting opposition voices while stacking other opponents together, you no longer have a republic. You have a textbook tyranny of the majority the Founding Fathers warned us about. And when gerrymandering erases the voices of millions of Americans, no wonder only the most die-hard partisan activists show up at the polls. Even this author will candidly admit he has never voted in a primary, and probably never will.

While the corrupt machine of Richard J. Daley may have been dismantled long ago, the radicalism that has festered in its place remains a profound loss for America’s civic culture and republican order of governance. I hope one day we may all find the courage to overcome this rut.