The Illusion of Choice

By Gabriel Green

When you go to buy chips, there are more flavors, ingredients, and packaging options than you can shake a stick at. You can get corn chips, potato chips, sweet potato chips, or kale chips if you’re really into masochism. You can even get ‘em in a tube if you don’t like the whole bag concept. Shoutout Pringles.

Similarly, when you walk into a coffee shop, there are so many options to choose from. To say nothing of the at-home options we all enjoy, or the plethora of other methods of getting that sweet-sweet caffeine.

When it comes to the variety of things we Americans can buy, these are just two of the MANY examples we could all think of, off the top of our heads. No consumer has ever had it so good, or so overwhelming.

But, when it comes to the most important of institutions in our Republic, elections, we have no real choice.

Unfortunately, this is a nuanced topic that requires a lot to get into. Consider this the tip of the iceberg of a much larger critique of our electoral system. But, the gist of my issue is the way in which partisan primaries pre-stack the electoral deck.

Think about it critically, for just a second. When you vote in a primary election, you are choosing which Democrat and which Republican you will get to choose between in the general election. You’re “choosing” from a pre-selected list of approved brands. No matter what, you’re getting a Democrat or a Republican.

Some folks will try to pretend that the United States has always been a two-party system, and that’s only sort of true if you squint really hard. But, at some “practical” level, it’s at least plausible to claim that national politics has always been dominated by two parties.

But, until recently, local politics was not. There used to be a thing called “regional parties,” and even state specific parties that had some electoral clout and could force reasonable compromises.

Beyond that, until recent changes inside the current major parties there was some variety in members from different states. Texas Republicans had more in common with Texas Democrats than they did New York Republicans, and so on.

But, for some reason, we let these two parties entrench themselves as our guaranteed choices in law. And then we let them confine their entire memberships to the same rules regardless of location.

That’s why our 2025 Wyoming legislature spent more time debating DEI than dealing with the looming CWD crisis in our elk herds. And it’s why out of state Republicans have decided they’d rather buy $5,000 Wyoming primary election victories, than $150,000 California general election losses.