{"id":205,"date":"2021-08-21T19:00:10","date_gmt":"2021-08-21T23:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/world-politics-2021\/?page_id=205"},"modified":"2021-08-21T19:00:10","modified_gmt":"2021-08-21T23:00:10","slug":"the-democratic-party-is-radicalizing","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/world-politics-2021\/the-democratic-party-is-radicalizing\/","title":{"rendered":"The Democratic Party is Radicalizing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Extremism isn\u2019t just affecting the GOP.\u00a0The Atlantic<\/em>\u00a0APRIL 3, 2019<\/p>\n

Peter Wehner<\/a>\u00a0Contributing writer at\u00a0The Atlantic<\/em>\u00a0and senior fellow at EPPC<\/p>\n

The transformation of the GOP into the party of Patrick J. Buchanan and Donald J. Trump\u2014defined by cultural resentments, crude populism, and ethnic nationalism\u2014is among\u00a0the most important political stories<\/a>\u00a0of this century. But the GOP is hardly the only party that is undergoing some alarming tectonic shifts. Liberals wondering why conservatives who worry about Trump don\u2019t join the Democrats should consider what is happening on their own side of the aisle.<\/p>\n

If you want to understand just how radicalized the Democratic Party has become in recent years, look at the ascent of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. A self-proclaimed\u00a0socialist<\/a>, Sanders served as mayor of Burlington, Vermont, and was then elected to the House in 1990 and the Senate in 2006. It\u2019s hard to overstate just how left-wing Sanders\u2019s views have been, at least by the standards of American politics.<\/p>\n

Sanders has been a consistent\u00a0defender<\/a>\u00a0of regimes led by anti-American dictators like Daniel Ortega and Fidel Castro. He took pains to\u00a0separate<\/a>\u00a0his brand of socialism from the \u201ctotalitarianism\u201d of the Soviet Union, but on a 1988 trip, repeatedly\u00a0drew contrasts<\/a>\u00a0between the Soviet system and the United States that cast his own country in an unfavorable light. In the 1970s, Sanders\u00a0called for<\/a>\u00a0the nationalization of entire industries and 100 percent taxation on those making more than $1 million. Since then, Sanders has moved away from calling for government to own the means of production, but he has hardly experienced a Damascus-road conversion. He is still a proud leftist.https:\/\/1835d3955630c3e6c25eeeab475ab987.safeframe.googlesyndication.com\/safeframe\/1-0-37\/html\/container.html<\/p>\n

For most of his career, Sanders\u2014who identified as an independent but who caucused with Democrats\u2014was treated like a curiosity and even a bit of a crazy uncle by Democrats, who considered the label\u00a0socialist<\/em>\u00a0to be a smear.<\/p>\n

No more.<\/p>\n

The most prominent socialist in America, Sanders has gained a following, and in 2016, he challenged Hillary Clinton for the presidential nomination. He eventually lost, of course, but not before\u00a0winning roughly 13 million votes<\/a>\u00a0and 23 primaries and caucuses against Hillary Clinton, who got 17 million votes and won 34 contests. He electrified Democratic audiences in ways she could not, drawing a crowd of\u00a0nearly 30,000<\/a>\u00a0in Portland. The hashtag \u201cFeel the Bern\u201d\u00a0exploded in popularity<\/a>\u00a0in 2016. Sanders particularly inspired the younger generation,\u00a0drawing<\/a>\u00a0far more votes in the primaries from those under the age of 30 than did Clinton and Trump combined.<\/p>\n

The 77-year-old Sanders is now a front-runner for the 2020 Democratic nomination, with\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>\u00a0declaring<\/a>\u00a0that his leftist ideas on health care, taxes, the environment, and other matters are defining the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose ideas that we talked about here in Iowa four years ago that seemed so radical at the time, remember that?\u201d Sanders\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0during a return trip to the state earlier this month. \u201cShock of all shocks, those very same ideas are now supported not only by Democratic candidates for president but by Democratic candidates all across the board, from school board on up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2016 Iowa helped begin the political revolution,\u201d he continued. \u201cNow as we move to 2020 our job is to complete that revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read: Will the left go too far?<\/a><\/p>\n

He\u2019s not kidding, and he\u2019s not alone. Among the freshman class of House Democrats, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez\u2014now the second-most-famous democratic socialist in America\u2014is the unquestioned star among the base. According to Dan Balz of\u00a0The<\/em>\u00a0Washington Post<\/em>, Ocasio-Cortez is \u201cthe titular leader of a progressive grass-roots movement pushing the party to the left.\u201d (The mere mention of her name elicits spontaneous applause on programs like\u00a0The Late Show With Stephen Colbert<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

Another prominent member of the freshman class of House Democrats, Ilhan Omar, recently dismissed former President Barack Obama\u2014who not that long ago defined the progressive wing of the Democratic Party\u2014as too right-wing. \u201cWe don\u2019t want anybody to get away with murder because they are polished,\u201d she\u00a0said<\/a>, \u201cwe want to recognize the actual policies that are behind the pretty face and the smile.\u201d<\/p>\n

To more fully grasp the leftward lurch of the Democratic Party, it\u2019s useful to run through some of the ideas that are now being seriously talked about and embraced by leading members of the party\u2014ideas that together would be fiscally ruinous, invest massive and unwarranted trust in central planners, and weaken America\u2019s security.<\/p>\n