Even in today’s chaotic and unpredictable political environment, some things are as constant as the North Star. So it was probably inevitable that the group No Labels, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit group that is an official political party in three states, would advance the periodically floated idea of an independent third-party presidential campaign ahead of 2024. Much as water is wet and the sky is blue, America has long housed a strand of elite reaction that simply cannot abandon the fever dream of “transcending” the partisan divide by finally eradicating politics altogether.

Last weekend, the Washington Post reported that No Labels initiated a $70 million campaign to get on the presidential ballot line in all fifty states — something it calls an “insurance policy” against both Democrats and Republicans should either nominate a candidate it deems “unacceptable.” What the organization will actually do remains an open question.

Speaking to the Post, former senator Joe Lieberman, a cochair of the group, coyly suggested No Labels might attempt to get both the GOP and Democratic candidates to commit to its “common-sense, moderate, independent platform,” though the group hasn’t ruled out backing its own ticket at the presidential level. Sen. Joe Manchin and former Maryland governor Larry Hogan, among others, are apparently both warm to the idea.