The Nation: The Democratic Party Must Finally Abandon Centrism [View all]

[QC]

The party of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman began veering in the 1970s toward more centrist economic approaches. By the 1990s it was swamped by so-called “Third Way” thinking that embraced free-trade fabulism, deregulation of banking and Wall Street, and the cruel lie that there can be some sort of “win-win” compromise between crony capitalism and the common good. It was never true that all Democrats favored centrist economics, but too many leaders constrained the party’s identity with a perceived need to keep on the right side of Wall Street.

Then came the 2016 primary race, which drew clear lines of distinction. The Sanders campaign, with its urgent advocacy for a $15 minimum wage, fair trade, single-payer health care, taxes on the rich, necessary regulation of big banks and profound political reform excited millions of voters—particularly frustrated Democrats, progressive independents and, above all, the young voters who will decide whether the Democratic Party has a future. And although Sanders did not win the nomination, he won the debate.

https://www.thenation.com/article/the-democratic-party-must-change/