In the United States we have a national administration whose program, though far from socialist, is more progressive than any since Franklin Roosevelt’s. But in Europe, where citizens have had substantial experience with constructive social democracy, the democratic left is all but dead. Somehow, the U.S. and Europe have reversed roles. What happened?
As recently as a generation ago, European social democracy seemed well entrenched. In the late 1990s, 13 of the 15 member governments of the European Union were left-of-center coalitions led by social democrats. Today, with the EU having grown to 27 member states, just six European counties have center-left prime ministers, and the social democratic vote in most of continental Europe has dwindled to 20 percent or less. The French Socialist Party, which held the presidency as recently as 2017, is near collapse. The German SPD got just 20.5 percent of the vote in the most recent federal election, also in 2017, its lowest share since before World War I, and is now polling around 15 percent, well below the Greens. The British Labour Party is languishing in the polls, far behind the comic-opera Tory prime minister, Boris Johnson.
Read Full Article »