For us older lefties, Senator Bernie Sanders’s identification with “democratic socialism” began as a mystery. There seemed to be little that distinguished his current platform from those of liberals past, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt or Lyndon B. Johnson — no hint of socialism’s traditional connotation of “nationalizing the means of production.” But now his advocacy of a job guarantee has opened more radical horizons.

It hardly seems necessary to recount the myriad benefits of full employment. Poverty and inequality are reduced, public-sector expenses are offset, child development is enhanced, the political and economic power of labor is augmented, mental health is supported.

Some claim that after an inordinately lengthy recovery from the Great Recession the United States has already achieved full employment. This delusion seems unique to Democratic moderates and centrists, such as Paul Krugman. The Trumpified Republican Party evinces an unending mania for limitless growth, while the Left, for its part, has produced ample analysis of remaining slack in the labor market.