There is no middle left in the U.S. Politics have moved to the extremes of left and right.
This is simply not accurate. It negates the proven fact that American politics have shifted to the right with the support of both major parties since the '70s. By blocking any true progressive movement the Democratic party has moved rightward in lockstep with Republicans, only needing to be slightly less authoritarian to win voters who have no other choice.
Most of this shift was from economic issues with the Democratic party claiming to be "left" only because of its stand on social issues. Both Clinton and Obama were ready and willing to slash critical safety nets, including Social Security and Medicare, the bedrock of the working middle class in America.
Both of those programs were considered "third rails" of politics before Clinton, untouchable even by the most conservative Republicans if they wished to remain in office. It seems that the people like their government when it provides benefits to them. This lack of pushback from Democrats marked their point of departure from their roots in FDR's New Deal and their adoption of neoliberalism and market-centered economics.
Back when I was a child, the Democrats and the Republicans were more moderate than they are now.
This proves my point, except that no "radical left" is occupying any space in our political environment now. Google "Eisenhower's 1956 platform" to get a sense of what Republicans used to stand for and compare that with modern-day Democrats. Most Democrats and "left-leaning" independents would fit right into the Republican ideology of that time.
I don’t hold out much hope of success for them.
That will depend upon what their "true" goal is. If it is what I believe it to be, fracturing the Democratic party into segments that can't win against a unified Republican party, it could easily accomplish that if given access to the ballot box.
Its primary draw for left leaning centrists is its UBI plan, which is right out of Milton Freidman's economic playbook. It offers no guarantee of benefits and simply provides public money destined for rent seekers that will quickly be erased by inflation and only widen the income gap. It will be a deterrent to wage increases and not enough to even pay for half of the rent and utilities for a month for the average family.
It is a neoliberal dream come true that will lock people into their employment even tighter while vastly increasing corporate profits. It will be guaranteed to reduce the real safety net for the poor, making it simply a transfer of benefits for those who need it the most. However, it will be quite attractive to the mostly econ-illiterate American voters who will see it only as badly needed income.
