The Brain-Breaking Logic of No Labels
The centrist group No Labels has been the object of furious scrutiny in the 2024 election cycle, with attention largely focused on whether a third-party presidential campaign launched by the group might play a spoiler role in the presidential race, putting Donald Trump back in the White House. Last week, No Labels went so far as to allege illegal sabotage by Democratic organizations and other political groups.
No Labels presents itself as the solution to a lack of democracy in the existing system—voters are stuck with two choices they don’t like and over which they don’t have much control. The problem is that No Labels’ proposed solution arguably involves even less democracy than the two major parties offer.
Understanding how strange the operation is requires going back in time to No Labels’ founding, in 2010. The group was established to foster bipartisan cooperation between Democrats and Republicans in politics, hence the name: Elected officials affiliated with the group would work together without regard to party in an attempt to
