Politics & Power Quote by John Avlon

Independence is doing double duty here: it flatters the reader as a small-d democrat while quietly recruiting them into a political project. Avlon wraps a familiar reformist impulse - escape the red-blue trance - in the language of the founding, turning "nonpartisan" into a kind of civic patriotism. That rhetorical move matters because it recasts disengagement from party identity not as apathy, but as virtue. You're not checked out; you're declaring independence.

The subtext is a diagnosis of what parties have become: not coalitions of interests so much as machines optimized for outrage. "Reason" versus "hateful appeals" is less a neutral contrast than a moral sorting mechanism, implying that the problem isn't ideology but incentive structures. If voters stop behaving like reliable partisan consumers, parties would be forced to market policies instead of emotions. It's an argument about demand as much as supply: polarization persists because it is rewarded.

Contextually, Avlon has made a career out of centrist, anti-extremist critique (often adjacent to the "No Labels" / "politics of persuasion" ecosystem), and this line carries that brand: the promise that a critical mass of independents could discipline the system. There's also a strategic ambiguity in "both sides". It signals fairness, but it can also blur asymmetries by treating polarization as an equal-opportunity vice. The intent is clear: shame the faithful, energize the exhausted middle, and make political moderation feel like an act of rebellion rather than compromise.