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August 22, 2024 - 3:25am
Bill Clinton reportedly ripped up his Democratic National Convention speech on Monday night, worried that it lacked the joy and energy of the speakers from that day.
He gave the rewritten address on Wednesday, offering a speech which was noticeably less electric than the many he’s given in years past.
As he lumbered through the somewhat meandering address, the former president seemed to be aware of this. “Lord, I’m getting old,” he said after noting that his first Democratic convention was in 1972. But the wrinkles on his face don’t provide the answer to a critical question: is it still Bill’s party?
Clinton was elected president in the Nineties at a time when Left-oriented parties across the country were racing to the Right. In the UK, this was represented by Tony Blair, whose Blairites have managed to more or less guide the course of the party since (with a brief interruption by Jeremy Corbyn and his insurgents).
In the US, whether Third Way politics still governs the Democratic Party is a more complicated question. On a whole host of issues, the party is far to the Left of where it was when Clinton was in charge.
While Clinton informed us that abortion should be “safe, legal, and rare”, Democratic politicians from coast to coast now argue that abortion is just another healthcare procedure that should even be subsidised with taxpayer dollars. Prohibitions on gay marriage are history; instead, Democrats are now at the cutting-edge of LGBT issues, using the force of law to defend transitions for minors.
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SubscribeOn economic and and Govt involvement I’m sure US subscribers have some appreciation that what is deemed Left in the US would not be deemed similar in UK. The Democrats are miles from a party of Left leaning economics, social policy and belief in more major redistribution in the sense we’d use for Left here in the UK. It’s funding structure also fundamentally prevents that. From this side of the Atlantic the Democrats are Right wing, just perhaps more benign Right wing.
The Author seems to focus more ‘culture war’ type issues – not the greatest term is it but I think we know what we mean. And yes the Western world has moved in a more progressive direction in the 30yrs since Clinton came to power. Some will be repelled by this. And even some who think it’s generally a good thing will have worries about some more recent suggestions.
Clinton’s instinct correct though. Elections won from the centre not the extremes.
You’re living in the past. When Kamala proposed raising capital gains tax to 45% and taxing unrealized gains it should be evident that she is very hard left vis a vis income redistribution, and for that matter the complete destruction of the American economy. If she has her way and becomes president, America will soon disintegrate to the levels of Venezuela (previously the richest country in South America).
In general tax rates lower in US and you certainly don’t have an NHS free at the point of care. You’re a long way from what we might deem left. As regards an increase in capital gains – there is a good reason more countries are carefully considering this – inequality has increased, pulling at the fibres of society via asset inflation and R>C. Correction requires some of the incentives be changed
One could say: your first paragraph shows how far left the UK has gone.
As for “culture war” issues–which would seem to include the Orwellianization of the left: one should have more than “worries” about “some more recent suggestions.” The Democrats have come unhinged. Pseudo-social-science about systemic racism, “whiteness” being essentially oppression, CRT, social constructionism about race…all that was deranged enough. Now they are indoctrinating children to believe that women have penises, the male/female distinction is a fiction, and perhaps they need to chop off their body parts.
And that’s not to even mention the left’s new anti-free-speech zealotry.
I agree that elections are probably won from the center. But the center itself can be shifted out of the realm of sanity if one faction becomes sufficiently extreme.
I think you need to get out more and not believe everything you read about what personifies the average Democrat. The fact those theories exist does not mean they become overwhelmingly accepted. There is plenty pushing back. The theories sometimes have something to add to the discourse but they aren’t Oceania. Orwell is melodramatically too overused, although big fan.
You are correct that Left and Right are different in the UK and the US. They always have been. That’s because America has a Separation of Church and State.
The Separation of Church and State meant the Government had no role in setting individual virtue. It was a less involved State that left people alone to practice their own faith. In the UK, that was not the case and it created rebellion into a secularized society. So Conservatives in a secular society generally fought Collectivism from a Free Trade (Market Capitalism) perch detached from Faith.
The form of “Market Capitalism” practiced in Europe derived from John Calvin who thought taking interest on money loaned was not INHERENTLY immoral. But Calvin did not see it as inherently good either. It was not the pursuit of riches that was good but the commitment to work and personal responsibility that was good. He did not believe it was immoral to gain wealth but gaining wealth wasn’t an inherent sign of Virtue either.
In the UK, a critical mass views the accumulation of wealth as inherently immoral exploitation. That has not historically been true in America. Therefore, a critical mass of the American Left is a combination of the European Right and Left. They are secular and they speak the “virtues” of Anti-Capitalism while simultaneously practicing it.
Not convinced by that TB, although I think it is a fascinating subject. Adam Smith was British as just one example, and of course the Industrial revolution happened here first.
At points like this, it’s worth revisiting the 1992 Democrat Platform https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/1992-democratic-party-platform – and then wondering who’s platform is would be most similar to today?
In the 1996 Presidential election, Bill Clinton carried Arkansas by a 17% margin. In the 2020 election, Trump carried the state by a 28% margin. Whatever Clinton himself may say, the people of his home state, who put him on the national stage, have clearly taken a view on whether the Democratic Party any longer speaks for them.