A Clinton-era centrist Democrat explains why it’s time to give democratic socialists a chance
Bingo
These candy ass centrists are living in a different world if they think by tacking to the center they'll be able to get Republicans to cross the aisle. How fucking delusional are these people? I could at least understand it if there was a sizable number of GOP that voted for ACA, if there were a sizable number that voted for the stimulus package, etc. Those were not socialist policies. Those were centrist and market friendly policies! So what makes you think if we just try again that Republicans will finally jump onboard. These people are living in a different universe
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/3/4/18246381/democrats-clinton-sanders-left-brad-delongYet DeLong believes that the time of people like him running the Democratic Party has passed. “The baton rightly passes to our colleagues on our left,” DeLong wrote. “We are still here, but it is not our time to lead.”
It’s not often that someone in this policy debate — or, frankly, any policy debate — suggests that their side should lose. So I reached out to DeLong to dig into the reasons for his position: Why does he believe that neoliberals’ time in the sun has come to an end?
The core reason, DeLong argues, is political. The policies he supports depend on a responsible center-right partner to succeed. They’re premised on the understanding that at least a faction of the Republican Party would be willing to support market-friendly ideas like Obamacare or a cap-and-trade system for climate change. This is no longer the case, if it ever were.
“Barack Obama rolls into office with Mitt Romney’s health care policy, with John McCain’s climate policy, with Bill Clinton’s tax policy, and George H.W. Bush’s foreign policy,” DeLong notes. “And did George H.W. Bush, did Mitt Romney, did John McCain say a single good word about anything Barack Obama ever did over the course of eight solid years? No, they fucking did not.”
The result, he argues, is the nature of the Democratic Party needs to shift. Rather than being a center-left coalition dominated by market-friendly ideas designed to attract conservative support, the energy of the coalition should come from the left and its broad, sweeping ideas. Market-friendly neoliberals, rather than pushing their own ideology, should work to improve ideas on the left. This, he believes, is the most effective and sustainable basis for Democratic politics and policy for the foreseeable future.
Bingo
These candy ass centrists are living in a different world if they think by tacking to the center they'll be able to get Republicans to cross the aisle. How fucking delusional are these people? I could at least understand it if there was a sizable number of GOP that voted for ACA, if there were a sizable number that voted for the stimulus package, etc. Those were not socialist policies. Those were centrist and market friendly policies! So what makes you think if we just try again that Republicans will finally jump onboard. These people are living in a different universe