“The common-sense majority have no voice in this country. … They just watch the three-ring circus play out.”

Jon Huntsman Jr., a former Utah governor who served as ambassador in two high-profile, high-pressure roles in both the Obama and Trump administrations, made this observation in New Hampshire recently.

Huntsman was in New Hampshire to promote the efforts of No Labels, a political coalition mulling an independent bid in the 2024 presidential election.

The coalition is concerned that the Democratic and Republican parties are too beholden to their respective extremist and all-too-frequently short-sighted wings. We share that concern. The massive deficit spending under both the Trump and Biden administrations should lead all Americans to sharing that concern. The precedents set by both administrations — precedents that can be further abused when the other party comes into power — should lead all Americans to sharing that concern.

We also share the sentiment expressed at the event in New Hampshire by U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, who before being elected to the Senate served as the Mountain State’s governor.

“We need options,” he said.

As the Sun-Gazette reported last Wednesday in its coverage of the event, it isn’t just us and Senator Manchin: Polling indicates that 67% of voters want a choice other than incumbent Democrat Joe Biden and Republican frontrunner and former President Donald Trump.

The No Labels effort could prove to be a remedy for that risk. The organizers assured the audience that they will only go forward with a presidential ticket if there is a realistic path to victory.

But even in defeat, an independent, centrist bid could serve two important purposes: It could apply pressure to the Republican and Democratic parties to pursue a more balanced strategy that includes the needs and priorities of that common-sense majority and it could serve as a catalyst for more centrist and center-right voters to volunteer, learn the minutiae of how campaigning and the political process works and, in future years and future elections, balance out the activists on the extremes who have come to dominate the cultivation of national agendas and primary campaigns.

Either of these purposes would help inject the level-headedness and reason the common-sense majority — and the country — needs into our political future.

— Williamsport Sun-Gazette