National Perspective: As Go the Independents, So Goes the Country

There's loads of talk about the struggle among the Democrats about how, or whether, to accommodate democratic socialists in the party. There's loads of talk about the struggle among Republicans about the future of the MAGA movement once Donald Trump glides into formal political retirement. But what if those aren't the most important moving parts in American political culture?

There's ample reason to think that the shape of American politics won't be governed by the two parties' choices, as important as they are. That's because Americans increasingly are growing impatient with the two parties — and because more Americans than ever are identifying not as members of the party of their fathers (as the old chestnut used to tell us) nor as members of any party at all. Indeed, nearly half of all Americans now identify as political independents.