CNN’s senior data analyst had this to say: “The Democrats are moving to the left, the far left is gaining power....”
The first part of that is true: the Democrats are indeed moving to the left—toward the center. The center is where most of the people reading this reside. There is no “far left.” I suppose there is a far left relative to where the Democrats stand politically. They are a right-of-center party, so yes, Sanders and Mamdani are far left—as is the population—from the Democratic vantage point.
CNN’s analyst then shared this penetrating bit of commentary:
“When we’re talking about 42% of Democrats under the age of 35 identifying as democratic socialists and a third of all Democrats, my goodness gracious.”
Yes, my goodness gracious, indeed. Your abysmal reporting is why so many Americans have no idea how politics work in this country. I assume by “my goodness gracious,” he is voicing anxiety that the party is moving toward the center—where most Americans reside. So, CNN is worried that the so-called labor party might actually begin representing the interests of working Americans. My goodness gracious.
I guess I’ll just keep repeating myself: there is no left. It does not exist on Capitol Hill. There are zero members of Congress who are one millimeter to the left of the center. Zero. Yes, there are some small leftist parties, but they basically receive no votes and therefore have no representation in Washington. Past that, the left exists in books and in the minds of people who subscribe to leftist thought—like the author of this blog, though you wouldn’t know it.
The center is the liberal center. To be a liberal is to be a centrist. Bernie can call himself a socialist all he wants. He is not. He is a 1940s liberal Democrat. That is it. Same for AOC and Mamdani and just about everyone in the Progressive Caucus. And many of these people, one could argue, are a skosh right of center.
I am quite glad the Democrats are moving toward the center. This is welcome news. And while the Democrats are moving toward the center, the Republicans are moving to the right under the banner of “conservatism.”
How trafficking in racism, anti-LGBTQ sentiment, shafting the working class, handing free money to the rich, and blowing holes in the deficit is “conservative” is a mystery. How working-class Americans with bills to pay vote for this is also a mystery.
It turns out that liberal Millennials seem to have a grip on where this country should be headed if we want to live in a more civilized, equitable place. My goodness gracious.
