Can Democrats Reverse the Neoliberal Era’s Dealignment?
A new study clearly shows that Democratic candidates aren’t embracing progressive economic demands. Is it any wonder why more and more working-class people are tuning these politicians out?
19276 Articles by: Abigail Torre
Abigail Torre grew up in Chile and now lives in Berkeley, California where she is cochair of the East Bay chapter of Democratic Socialists of America.
Joe Biden Is Shipping Weapons to Israel Every 36 Hours
The Biden administration has been able to maintain a low profile by spreading arms provision to Israel across more than 100 smaller munitions sales — allowing the president to posture as a peacekeeper while US weapons wipe Gaza off the map.
No, Eastern Europe Isn’t Doomed to Right-Wing Rule
Six left-wing parties from central-eastern Europe have formed a new alliance. They’re united by opposition to right-wing populists and Russian imperialism — but they’re also challenging the center-left parties who led the region’s neoliberal turn.
Banning TikTok Is a Terrible Idea
Large numbers of both Republican and Democratic officials, including Joe Biden, are indicating their support of a measure to ban TikTok. It’s a nonsensical idea born of elite mistrust of ordinary people.
How US “Foreign Aid” Has Helped Destabilize Haiti
A surge of gang violence in Haiti has now led to the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. Through its heavy-handed use of foreign aid to intervene in Haitian politics, the US government bears significant responsibility for Haiti’s ongoing instability.
The Hearing Test Is a Pitch-Perfect Novel About Loss
In Eliza Callahan’s debut novel, The Hearing Test, a woman develops sudden deafness shortly before her 30th birthday. What follows is a story about loss and aging, but without the self-indulgence common to the millennial novel.
Capitalist Markets Aren’t “Free.” They’re Planned for Profit.
Neoliberalism was never about shrinking the state to unfetter markets and enhance human freedom. In her new book, Vulture Capitalism, Grace Blakeley argues that neoliberalism has always sought to wield state power to maximize profits for the rich.
Why Is the ACLU Undermining Labor Rights?
The progressive ACLU is trying to establish a precedent that would strike a huge blow against workers’ rights across the country and make union organizing much more difficult. Let’s hope the organization comes to its senses soon.
Swiss Voters Just Raised Pensions, Not the Pension Age
Switzerland’s labor unions have won a national referendum on raising pensions, while blocking a rival proposal to increase the retirement age. The vote showed a clear class divide, as lower-paid and lower-educated voters defied business leaders’ warnings.
New Study: Where Are All the Left Populists?
Democrats are losing working-class votes. A new study from Jacobin, ASU’s Center for Work and Democracy, and the Center for Working-Class Politics shows how few Democratic Party candidates use populist rhetoric, propose progressive economic policies, or come from working-class backgrounds.
The Enduring Predictability of the Mostly Apolitical Oscars
Yet another “return to normal” Oscars — briefly disrupted by a statement from Zone of Interest director Jonathan Glazer criticizing Israel’s assault on Gaza — only demonstrates just how boring even a “good one” can be.
Jamaal Bowman Deserves the Left’s Support
New York congressman Jamaal Bowman is a democratic socialist incumbent under fire by AIPAC for his pro-Palestinian stances and corporate lobbyists for his progressive domestic policy. His defeat would be a serious setback for the Left.
Tom Hayden and Jane Fonda, Capitol Hill Antiwar Lobbyists
In 1974, after years of grinding war in Vietnam had exhausted most of the antiwar movement, Tom Hayden and Jane Fonda came up with a new strategy: an educational and lobbying push targeting Congress to stop funding the war machine.
Aligning With Washington Is Bad News for Argentina
Argentina’s biggest trade partners are Brazil and China, but President Javier Milei is making them into enemies. Desperate to suck up to US interests, Milei’s Cold Warrior foreign policy is an ideological relic, out of touch with a multipolar world.
The Egalitarian Radicalism of Thomas Müntzer
Reformation-era preacher Thomas Müntzer’s menacing of elites and his role in the Peasants’ War won him a lasting reputation as a theologian of revolution. Müntzer fostered apocalyptic dreams of equality in a time of tyrants, only to find his head on a spike.
How the Left Fell in and Out of Love With Free Trade
In Pax Economica, the historian Marc-William Palen argues that the Left has a long history of championing open markets as a bulwark against nationalism. Neoliberals quashed this idealism.
Middlemen Are Profiting off the Broken US Pharma System
Pharmacy benefit managers push expensive medications and slash drug reimbursement rates, pocketing the profits for themselves. Congress looked set to regulate these shadowy middlemen — but $50 million in industry lobbying later, the effort has stalled.
Unions Can’t Be Rebuilt Piecemeal. We Need to Go Big.
The 1930s rise of the Congress of Industrial Organizations led to millions of people being union members for the first time. The lesson of the CIO is that it’s necessary to harness the collective power of the working class on a grand scale.
Emmanuel Todd Prophesies the Defeat of the West
French demographer Emmanuel Todd’s new book argues that secularization has left Western societies weak and divided. But his account of the US and Europe’s secular nihilism is deeply reductive, leaving no space for forward-looking political change.
Debating Class Dealignment
Class dealignment posits that Democrats have been losing working-class voters in favor of middle- and upper-class voters. Is this actually happening? And to what extent is it a problem?