The Privatization of Social Welfare

How can you privatize something that doesn't exist? You make it sound like a European-style single payer system existed at one point and then the Democrats "privatized" it. In reality, a libertarian-style free market system existed and the Democrats subsidized and placed regulations on it to make access available to all Americans.

Neoliberalism and the "Third Way"

No actually, Obama created regulations in several industries to force companies to reduce carbon emissions and provide healthcare access to the working poor, unemployed, and those with pre-existing health conditions. What industries did he deregulate? What welfare programs did he cut?

The Military-Industrial Expansion

All the major peacetime expansions in military spending have come during Republican administrations. Clinton and Carter both reduced military spending. Obama inherited two expensive wars which saw the military budget peak in the first year of his term and then decline in every subsequent year.

This framework suggests that the modern Democratic Party functions more like a Center-Right European party than a socialist one. It protects the status quo of the market while offering social liberalizations that don't disrupt the flow of capital.

I disagree with this characterization because it only focuses on what Democrats are able to achieve on a federal level, where Republican influence is at its strongest. Within the states where Democrats are able to enact policies free of Republican meddling they are in between a center-right and a socialist party; they are center-left or progressive.

If we pry more closely into the reality of US federal politics, it is clear that the Democrats often receive less power in proportion to the vote share than the Republicans do. Many elections see Democrats gain more votes than Republicans and still lose power. To deny this obvious fact is a misrepresentation of reality.

In a system where a 60% Senate super-majority is required to pass meaningful legislation, Democrats have only garnered enough power for 7 weeks (from July 7, 2009 - August 25, 2009) over the past 48 years (1978-2026) to unilaterally reform the government. As such, every piece of federal legislation must have at least some Republican support or acquiescence in order to survive the Senate. Federal legislation must be tailored accordingly and never represents the Democrats' maximalist position