What is a political party with no politics?

The new centrist Forward Party has said they do not have any policy positions, preferring something much closer to vibes

Earlier this week, a group of high profile former Republicans, along with former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang announced a new centrist political party in the US.

It’s something that Yang has been repeatedly teasing on his Twitter account for a long time now, like an extended corporate marketing campaign. But so far, the party has mostly failed to land a big splash.

So far, the party hasn’t taken any policy positions, other than to say they are a centrist party, promising to appeal to independents. Forward Party national organizing manager Will Conway compared the party to Spotify.

It’s a funny comparison. He’s admitting that political parties are like the record companies who actually produce music, while the Forward Party doesn’t actually make any music, but redistributes other people’s music for its own profit.

But a political parties, with actual politicians, who have no policies, are either gutless or bought. Or worse, their policies are up for the highest bidder.

The Forward party sees itself as a conduit for political discourse, but that’s a newspaper’s job. A politician’s job is to create policy. It’s literally in the name. Political party, politician, policy. It’s the same root.

Right now, this feels like an attention grab from a tiny constituency who terminally demand national prominence. The Nation’s Elie Mystal perhaps put it best:

There are already some third parties in the US, the Greens and Libertarian parties come to mind. At least those parties actually take a stand for something and aren’t just seeking to represent the most profitable squishy middle this country has to offer.