 My colleagues at the Campaign for America's Future have just put out a joint report about America's ideological leanings, and as you can see, it confirms what we have been saying for years: America is, and remains, a center-left nation.
The question is no longer whether America is progressive - the question is how that progressive bent can be transformed into policy, and why it isn't being legislated into law already? Why, for instance, with the majority of the public telling pollsters for years that we support single-payer health care, is that concept nonetheless "off the table" in Washington? Why, with most Americans supporting serious trade reform, is our government still considering a push for NAFTA-style trade policies? The list of similar questions is endless.
One obvious answer is the power of money: The interests that support the status quo have lots of cash, and they use the legalized bribery system known as campaign finance to preserve that status quo. Another obvious answer is that corporate conservatives in both parties have dominated Washington for the better part of three decades.
A less obvious answer involves us, the progressive movement. As I've written before, the Obama era has seen Partisan War Syndrome metastasize into Dear Leader-ism - an ideology that says the progressive movement's role is to worship, rather than challenge, our Democratic Dear Leaders in Washington, regardless of what they are doing.
I think we're (slowly) moving past Dear Leader-ism. We've seen many examples of the Make Him Do It Dynamic in the last few months, and I suspect we will see even more in the weeks and months ahead. It is that dynamic that will take the promise of a center-left nation and make it legislative reality.
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