Democratic Party: Too far left or not left enough?!?! (1 Viewer)

[Peter]

From a European perspective the Dems are pretty middle of the road and certainly not left wing.

 

[anatta]

Progressive : Interventionist foreign policy

It wasn't that long ago the far left was against going into Iraq (ex.) .. It was a disaster -but not of their making
However centrists like Hillary supported intervention. She also was a driving force for regime change in Libya. Obama as well

20 years later and the far left (Progs) have become willing to have proxy war as a foreign policy goal! Which is warmongering.
On the other hand the Repubs have marginalized their warmonger to the point they have no say in the Trump adm

 

[Surrealistik]

That is definitely not the only thing that has moved the country right.

Over time, Democrats have moved with them.

I don't know exactly why.

I'd say burgeoning and accelerating campaign finance and lobbying investments by private interests that have played both sides of the aisle in pursuit of profitable regulatory/legislative capture is a huge and obvious reason.

 

[The Mark]

It’s a big part of it

True, but in my opinion, when the democrats also moved rightward, they failed to provide the proper contrast with the Republicans.

The distance between the two parties should be much greater, if they had stuck with their power base in the New Deal and FDR.

And if it was, the obvious shift right of the Republicans would be far more obvious.

Edit: And if we're doing "what if" scenarios, I think that holding a further left position than they currently have would have prevented the Republicans from moving as far right as they have.

Edit 2: If we're going to stick with a 2-party system, we can't have both of them fairly close in many respects, especially if there are positions which go unrepresented as a result.

 

[aociswundumho]

Govt spending
The country can not afford to be overly generous with it's spending. We do need to seriously look at cutting costs until we can get our deficits under control. DOGE in itself is a fine idea. The problem with it is that it has been extremely poorly implemented. The Dems never seem to present themselves as the party that will get our endlessly growing deficit under control. The GOP are of course as bad, or worse, but they at least tell the voters that they have this focus. I would like to see the Dems present a multi year plan showing how they will bring the deficit under control. Take the lead on this. Which brings us to taxes.

Neither side of the duopoly has any real interest in even reducing the deficit, never mind the debt. The rational move for any politician in congress is to kick the can down the road.

Taxation
One of my disappointments of the Biden admin was that they failed to increase taxes on the wealthiest part of our population. The ever widening wealth/income divide is going to kill American society.

Lots of people complain about inequality, but they rarely explain what’s actually wrong with one person having more money than someone else. Nine times out of ten, the real problem is belief in the fixed pie fallacy.

It is time for the Dems to get serious about closing that divide, and that starts with getting more back from those who have been benefiting the most for decades now.

Too bad for you congress is full of multimillionaires, and I doubt they're very keen on increasing their own taxes.

 

[Jay59]

Conclusion The Democratic Party under Biden and Harris has moved to the center or even center-right compared to FDR’s New Deal era.

They have moved to the center in certain narrow economic areas.

The bulk of the party is tied up in the fringe groups--green energy, abortion rights, LGBTQ, DEI, sanctuary cities, Trump is a fascist, etc.

While there are progressive elements in today’s platform—particularly on climate, civil rights, and healthcare—the party’s economic and labor policies are less transformative

Not even labor.

and its approach to issues like immigration and foreign policy is more conservative than in the past.

Not conservative, reactionary.

Trump has been very good at trapping Democrats in some very unpopular positions. For example, DEI is widely recognized as systemic racism.

The overall trend since the 2010s has been a rightward shift, especially in response to political pressures and the rise of right-wing populism.

The shift is to the various extremes.

Republicans have stolen the populism at the core of the New Deal.

 

[Craig234]

That is definitely not the only thing that has moved the country right.

Over time, Democrats have moved with them.

I don't know exactly why.

Two important and related reasons are that traditional Democrats lost elections - Humphrey, McGovern, Mondale, Dukakis -and Republican propaganda got a bigger machine that moved the public to the right, Reagan was part of that.

 

[Craig234]

True, but in my opinion, when the democrats also moved rightward, they failed to provide the proper contrast with the Republicans.

Harry Truman - ironically a less left Democrat - had a quote about that, give voters a choice between a Democrat who acts like a Republican and a Republican and they'll pick the real Republican.

The distance between the two parties should be much greater, if they had stuck with their power base in the New Deal and FDR.

That's not so easy when many of the same wealthy donors donate to both parties. Only Progressives offer a good alternative.

 

[bongsaway]

I like to think of myself as progressive more than anything. I'm for things that will make America better FOR MOST PEOPLE. Green energy, we cannot keep polluting our planet if we intend to keep living here, we cannot exhaust our resources if we intend to keep living here, sooner or later the laws of unintended consequences will catch us. A tax system where the wealthy can't hide their money and cheat the taxman. No more breaks for corporate America or business for that matter. You either make it on your own, or you don't, period. A balanced budget is a must. If we can't pay for it, we don't do it, period. A strong social net so we the people don't freeze to death or die of starvation. Let's face it people, the wealthy or the strong have run this country and every other country on earth since the beginning of time. Not much will change as long as the top ten percent own eighty percent of everything.

 

[element94]

The Democratic Party is owned by billionaire and millionaire donors....just like the Republican Party. As a result, the needs of the working class have been mostly ignored and taken it for granted by the Democratic Party for the past 50 years and that is why we now have President Trump.

It's ludicrous for anyone to suggest that the Democratic Party is "too far left", at least when it comes to economic issues. I wish it was the case that the Democratic Party was "too far left".

Business opportunities should also be outlawed for public servants, because the honor system doesn't work. Anything that can corrupt will certainly do it's job without a clear NO or you GO! I say we give the original candidate system a try (and outlaw political parties), not that it can't be corrupted, but with some very strict no-nos. Full disclosure with a fine tooth comb and bank records of all family members. The people want to know if their presidential candidate/president, is a crook.

 

[bongsaway]

No far enough left on economics, too far left on social issues.

You want your social life controlled by others? You want to be told who you can marry, who you can date? What books you can read? Seriously?

 

[Diving Mullah]

Before Trumps arrival I was more traditionally a conservative voter, but a centre right focussed one. I have always considered Trump to be a highly immoral fraud, so unelectable in terms of gaining my support. Taking that previous centre right affiliation into consideration, I think the Dems are too far left on a couple of key issues that they refuse to listen to public opinion on. On the other hand, I think they are sometimes too far right on some other issues. My big changes for the Dems would be:

Immigration
It is obvious that the majority of Americans want illegal immigration better controlled. Instead of allowing the far right to use this as an election winning platform, the Dems should support tight control of the border to prevent illegal immigration, whilst significantly improving our ability to attract and process the desirable migrants we need to keep the economy growing. The lack of focus on tight border control will continue to hurt the Dems, and quite possibly lead to more election losses

DEI
I generally support well designed DEI, as I firmly believe that we need to focus more on making sure that accidents of birth etc are not the final deciders on how much people can contribute to society. We have to break the cycle of the poor raising the next generation of poor etc, and that means taking a few extra steps to help break those cycles. At the same time though, the Dems have to understand that this is a very divisive issue in America, and DEI can't be an "in your face" process like it is at times today. A prime example is trans men in female sports. In real numbers this is a very small number of affected people that gives the far right way more traction during elections than it ever should. This should not be a hill that the Dems are committing suicide on. Find a more moderate approach to DEI that is not so confronting where it doesn't need to be

Govt spending
The country can not afford to be overly generous with it's spending. We do need to seriously look at cutting costs until we can get our deficits under control. DOGE in itself is a fine idea. The problem with it is that it has been extremely poorly implemented. The Dems never seem to present themselves as the party that will get our endlessly growing deficit under control. The GOP are of course as bad, or worse, but they at least tell the voters that they have this focus. I would like to see the Dems present a multi year plan showing how they will bring the deficit under control. Take the lead on this. Which brings us to taxes.

Taxation
One of my disappointments of the Biden admin was that they failed to increase taxes on the wealthiest part of our population. The ever widening wealth/income divide is going to kill American society. It is time for the Dems to get serious about closing that divide, and that starts with getting more back from those who have been benefiting the most for decades now. And a lot of that extra income needs to be coupled with spending controls so that the deficit can start to be brought under control.

Regarding immigration, I highly recommend watching this....



Essentially, the more draconian the anti-immigration laws are, the worse the immigration situation becomes—and this pattern has persisted since the founding of the United States. From the Chinese Exclusion Act to anti-Irish, Italian, Jewish, or other anti-immigrant laws, we have repeatedly failed to learn any lessons from history. Being anti-immigration—whether legal or illegal—seems to always be politically effective, regardless of the long-term consequences.

Diving Mullah