Decades ago, Democratic Arkansas Governor William Clinton surged to victory in 1991’s presidential election — officially ending the GOP’s 16-year status as the majority party in the United States.
After such a long stretch of conservative policies being the norm, many Americans were understandably concerned about the direction their new government would take. After all, weren’t Democrats the party of Franklin Roosevelt and massive bureaucracy?
Ever the shrewd politician, newly elected President Clinton addressed these concerns by promising that the “era of big government is over” — signaling that he would be governing from a different place than his Democratic predecessors.
What a difference the years make…
Fast-forward to 2018, and you would be hard-pressed to find any Democrat that doesn’t at least maintain a lukewarm opinion of big government and socialism — or at least “democratic socialism” as Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders prefers to call it. Many Democrats will even defend regimes like the ones in Cuba and Venezuela. Sure, both of their economies are in the toilet, but at least they provide free health care.
It’s past time to admit that the “center-left” — or neo-liberal — coalition that was once mainstream in the Democratic Party ranks no longer exists. Under the influence of Sanders and others such as Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic Party is starting to look no different than other hard-leftists parties around the world.
~ Facts Not Memes
