Published 7:55 am Thursday, May 28, 2026 American political party organizations have imploded in the post-World War II era, largely replaced by dark money from unknown donors. The party vacuum is ominous for a healthy democracy, because voters are left without stable cues about how to vote. There are options that could — it won’t be easy — strengthen parties and diminish the impact of dark money. The traditional political party has four roles: establish and promote a platform; recruit candidates to seek election on that platform; conduct campaigns to elect those preferred candidates; and, once elected, pursue the platform objectives inside government. In his 1971 book “The Party’s Over,” prominent political writer David Broder declared that “the governmental system is not working because the political parties are not working.” In the half century since, parties have weakened further. For example, in my state, the formal Illinois Republican Party no longer fulfills any of the traditional party roles.…