Why our parties can’t govern

In the U.S., political parties are supposed to be coalitions, not movements.

What’s the difference?

In a coalition, you are expected to agree on one big thing. If you support the party’s candidate — for whatever reason — you’re one of us. No further questions. In a movement, you’re expected to agree on everything — not just which candidate you support, but also positions on government spending and foreign policy and race relations and vaccine mandates and filibuster reform. Disagree on anything and you can be banished from the movement. You’re not one of us.

Our parties started becoming more ideologically uniform a long time ago, back in the 1960s. Democrats embraced civil rights and made it clear that racists — who had been tolerated in the Democratic Party since the Civil War — were no longer welcome. The anti-Vietnam war movement said the same thing about war hawks. At the same time, Barry Goldwater defined the Republican Party as an exclusively conservative party and embraced the radical right (“Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice!”).

Since the 1960s, liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats have gone the way of the dodo bird. They have become nearly extinct in their native habitats (liberal Republicans in the Northeast, conservative Democrats in the South).

The trend toward ideological conformity didn’t start with Donald TrumpDonald TrumpClyburn says he’s worried about losing House, ‘losing this democracy’ Sinema reignites 2024 primary chatter amid filibuster fight  Why not a Manchin-DeSantis ticket for 2024? MORE, but he accelerated it. These days, if you want to be a Republican candidate, you don’t just have to embrace Trump: You have to accept “the big steal” — the view that Trump actually won the 2020 presidential election but was denied victory because the election was rigged. Otherwise, Trump will find a primary candidate to run against you no matter how much it damages the party’s chances of winning.

Democrats are not so extreme. President BidenJoe BidenSunday shows preview: Democrats’ struggle for voting rights bill comes to a head David Weil: Wrong man, wrong place, wrong time  Biden’s voting rights gamble prompts second-guessing MORE is an old-fashioned Democrat in the tradition of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman. During his first year as president, Biden proclaimed his support for bipartisanship and unity — values that don’t have much appeal to Republicans.

One consequence: In a Statista poll taken in December, by 62 to 38 percent, Americans called Biden “a weak president;” 40 percent called Biden “very weak.” Only 12 percent called him “very strong.” That’s the main reason Biden’s job ratings are so low. Americans want a president to be strong and decisive like Ronald Reagan. Not weak and “wishy-washy” like Jimmy CarterJimmy CarterAfter the loss of three giants of conservation, Biden must pick up the mantle Jimmy Carter on political division: US…