Really good piece, I will surely be referencing this any time someone claims the Democratic Party would be considered right wing in Europe.
I do have some criticisms though:
1. The Global Party Survey used party manifestos. Party manifestos are more like wishlists than actual policy commitments. I think it's important to consider what these parties actually do when they gain power. If Democrats "officially" support universal healthcare and ending systemic racism, but back off when the opportunity to pursue them arises, I'd say that diminishes their left-wing bonafides quite a bit.
2. The section on "socialist policy commitment" references surveys of Democratic voters, not Democratic Party leaders. I think it borders on misleading to judge a party's ideology by its voters, especially in the US's two party system where a huge portion of voters claim to dislike both parties. Again, I think the actions of the Democratic Party show an eagerness to crack down on immigration. Barack "Deporter-in-Chief" Obama deported far more people per year than Trump 1.0. Biden showed extended amnesty to many but also came down hard on immigrants in several other ways. The party does not always reflect the will of its voters.
3. There are some metrics I'd like to see examined further. Income inequality is a big one. Do blue states do better on this metric than red states? How about progressive taxation? People love to uphold the Nordic model as the social democratic utopia to emulate, but many are unaware that they have a much less progressive system of taxation, with flatter income taxes and higher sales taxes.
The Democratic party ABSOLUTELY is regarded as a right wing party in Europe and this flawed report even shows why - The Dems are right of many right wing parties in the graph. A median line is a nonsense way to show left and right - if there are a lot of right wing parties, and there are, it drags the line right. Political Compass are far more accurate than this.
One reason I focused in on what blue states do is to address your points of what Dems do when they have power and don't have a filibuster blocking them. But intentions and ideology also matter, so it's worth looking at the mix of what the voter base believes, as well as what politicians associated with a party do.
Blue states unquestionably have higher tax equity than red states- most red states actually tax poor people at far higher tax rates than rich people. States have challenges in just using income tax, so the use of sales and property taxes means even in blue states, taxes are not as progressive as at the federal level, but far better in them than in places like Texas and Florida which tax the hell out of the poor.
The future looks gloom for the US. They’ll end up even more dysfunctionnal than Europe.
Agree with your whole post.
Of course the problem is that those blue states are all dysfunctional and shedding population to the more successful and dynamic red states.
Really, really impressive. The bubble chart at the beginning hooked me immediately.
Really good piece, I will surely be referencing this any time someone claims the Democratic Party would be considered right wing in Europe.
I do have some criticisms though:
1. The Global Party Survey used party manifestos. Party manifestos are more like wishlists than actual policy commitments. I think it's important to consider what these parties actually do when they gain power. If Democrats "officially" support universal healthcare and ending systemic racism, but back off when the opportunity to pursue them arises, I'd say that diminishes their left-wing bonafides quite a bit.
2. The section on "socialist policy commitment" references surveys of Democratic voters, not Democratic Party leaders. I think it borders on misleading to judge a party's ideology by its voters, especially in the US's two party system where a huge portion of voters claim to dislike both parties. Again, I think the actions of the Democratic Party show an eagerness to crack down on immigration. Barack "Deporter-in-Chief" Obama deported far more people per year than Trump 1.0. Biden showed extended amnesty to many but also came down hard on immigrants in several other ways. The party does not always reflect the will of its voters.
3. There are some metrics I'd like to see examined further. Income inequality is a big one. Do blue states do better on this metric than red states? How about progressive taxation? People love to uphold the Nordic model as the social democratic utopia to emulate, but many are unaware that they have a much less progressive system of taxation, with flatter income taxes and higher sales taxes.
The Democratic party ABSOLUTELY is regarded as a right wing party in Europe and this flawed report even shows why - The Dems are right of many right wing parties in the graph. A median line is a nonsense way to show left and right - if there are a lot of right wing parties, and there are, it drags the line right. Political Compass are far more accurate than this.
One reason I focused in on what blue states do is to address your points of what Dems do when they have power and don't have a filibuster blocking them. But intentions and ideology also matter, so it's worth looking at the mix of what the voter base believes, as well as what politicians associated with a party do.
Blue states unquestionably have higher tax equity than red states- most red states actually tax poor people at far higher tax rates than rich people. States have challenges in just using income tax, so the use of sales and property taxes means even in blue states, taxes are not as progressive as at the federal level, but far better in them than in places like Texas and Florida which tax the hell out of the poor.