Former U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, along with former Sen. Joe Manchin and 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang, warned in a recent discussion that the American two-party system is in a ‘death spiral,’ concentrating power among a small group of party leaders and rewarding ideological loyalty over broad representation.

The panel, held at the Richmond Forum on Saturday night, focused on the growing disconnect between public sentiment and the entrenched power of congressional incumbents, who typically win re-election more than 90 percent of the time despite consistently low approval ratings for Congress.

Amash, a former Libertarian who now identifies as a Republican, argued that the system is failing to allow for broader political representation. He told attendees, ‘People don’t like just being independent. They want to be part of something. If they do not form some kind of coalition, I think it is really not going to get off the ground.’

Amash, who has criticized Donald Trump in the past, said the current system ‘concentrates power among a small group of party leaders’ and ‘perpetuates the power of the two parties.’

Yang, who ran for president in 2020, pointed to the two-party system as a factor in President Trump’s ability to pressure GOP lawmakers into supporting nominees they consider unqualified. He recounted how some moderate Republicans were ‘called out’ by Trump for not backing certain appointments, with the former president threatening to challenge them in primary elections.

Manchin, a Democrat who has often broken from his party on key issues, echoed concerns about the system’s limitations. He said the current structure creates a ‘paradox’ where public dissatisfaction with Congress is clear, but elected officials remain in power due to the way the system is structured.

The discussion comes as political scientists note that other democracies, such as Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain, operate with multi-party systems and often rely on coalition governments to function effectively. In the U.S., third-party candidates rarely hold office at the federal level, though they may win local or state-level races.

Philadelphia City Councilwoman Kendra Brooks, a member of the progressive Working Families Party, is one example of a third-party official who works closely with Democrats in a deep-blue city. However, such cases remain rare in the national political landscape.

The panel highlighted the need for structural reform to address the growing divide between the public and the political establishment. The three former lawmakers argued that the current system fails to reflect the diversity of American opinion and instead entrenches the power of the two major parties.