Seth Ackerman, Jacobin magazine's executive editor, and author of a widely discussed article, A Blueprint for a New Party, argues that the left needs a new approach in order to build a mass, member-controlled, democratic working-class party. The Democratic Party is hopelessly corporate and unreformable, but election law is stacked against third parties. The Left needs an independent organization that can stay flexible about running as Democrats, but behaves with the discipline of a real party. It must be independent — determining its own platform and educating around it. It should contest elections. And its candidates for public office should be members of the party, accountable to the membership, and pledged to respect the platform. However, given the U.S.'s peculiar two-party system, such a party need not have a separate party ballot line.