# The two-party system > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "The two-party system," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/two-party-system/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *John Kiriakou's account of American party politics as a spent form — more Americans now call themselves independents than Democrats or Republicans, the two parties are 'two sides of the same coin,' and ideology has displaced party as the organizing fact. He tells it partly as autobiography: a third-generation Democrat whose grandparents joined the party for Franklin Roosevelt and who left it himself.* - **Kiriakou's affiliation:** Independent — 'truly' - **Family history:** Third-generation Democrat; grandparents joined for Franklin Roosevelt - **Core claim:** 'Essentially these two parties are the same party, two sides of the same coin' - **Basis he cites:** 15 years at the [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia), years on [Capitol Hill](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/senate-foreign-relations-committee) **The two-party system**, in [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s account, has been overtaken by ideology and is no longer the organizing fact of American politics: there are now more Americans who call themselves independents than there are Democrats or Republicans.[1] ## Kiriakou's own trajectory Asked what party he belongs to, he answers *"I am an independent — independent truly"* — and immediately supplies the inheritance he left behind: *"I was a third generation Democrat. My grandparents came because of Franklin Roosevelt. Democrats, you know, through the Vietnam War. My parents were opposed to the war. They were supportive of civil rights. I left the Democratic party."*[1][2] ## Why the parties cannot recover Kiriakou says the parties want badly to restore a functioning two-party system *"but they don't know how to do it. And they don't know how to do it because they're unwilling to address the issues"* — the kind of issues, he adds, that [Charlie Kirk](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/charlie-kirk) was raising.[3] His stronger claim is that the distinction has already collapsed. *"A lot of people disagree with me when I say this, but I worked on Capitol Hill for years. I worked in the [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) for 15 years. I served overseas for my country. I've come to realize that there's really no major difference between the two political parties."* There are differences at the edges — *"maybe a little bit about abortion, maybe a little bit about the economy or taxes"* — but *"essentially these two parties are the same party, two sides of the same coin. And people are coming to realize that and they're tired of it."*[4] The practical consequence he names is disengagement: people are falling away from the parties *"because the political parties don't affect change in any way."*[5] ## The realignment as evidence He treats the recent right-wing break with Israeli policy as a demonstration of the same point — that ideology now cuts across party lines. He points to [Marjorie Taylor Greene](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/marjorie-taylor-greene) voting with Democrats, and to [Tucker Carlson](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/tucker-carlson), [Candace Owens](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/candace-owens) and Steve Bannon making arguments about the Middle East that no party label predicts.[6][7] ## See also - [Marjorie Taylor Greene](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/marjorie-taylor-greene) - [Democratic Party 2025 Political Snapshot](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/democratic-party-2025-approval-decline) - ['An unusually violent society'](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/unusually-violent-society) - [Charlie Kirk](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/charlie-kirk) ## Sources 1. Charlie Kirk's Story Crumbles — Iran (2025-10-11), at 19:17. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V5GlZ4IodQ&t=1157s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-10-11-dialogue-works-charlie-kirk-s-story-crumbles-iran/ 2. Charlie Kirk's Story Crumbles — Iran (2025-10-11), at 19:49. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V5GlZ4IodQ&t=1189s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-10-11-dialogue-works-charlie-kirk-s-story-crumbles-iran/ 3. Charlie Kirk's Story Crumbles — Iran (2025-10-11), at 20:20. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V5GlZ4IodQ&t=1220s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-10-11-dialogue-works-charlie-kirk-s-story-crumbles-iran/ 4. Charlie Kirk's Story Crumbles — Iran (2025-10-11), at 23:08. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V5GlZ4IodQ&t=1388s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-10-11-dialogue-works-charlie-kirk-s-story-crumbles-iran/ 5. Charlie Kirk's Story Crumbles — Iran (2025-10-11), at 22:34. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V5GlZ4IodQ&t=1354s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-10-11-dialogue-works-charlie-kirk-s-story-crumbles-iran/ 6. Charlie Kirk's Story Crumbles — Iran (2025-10-11), at 23:39. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V5GlZ4IodQ&t=1419s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-10-11-dialogue-works-charlie-kirk-s-story-crumbles-iran/ 7. Charlie Kirk's Story Crumbles — Iran (2025-10-11), at 25:14. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V5GlZ4IodQ&t=1514s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-10-11-dialogue-works-charlie-kirk-s-story-crumbles-iran/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/two-party-system/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt