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I think the article buries the lede in the last paragraph, contrasted with the photographs of Carter and Reagan under the headline. I understand the article is

I think the article buries the lede in the last paragraph, contrasted with the photographs of Carter and Reagan under the headline. I understand the article is about dispelling myths, requiring us to rehash those myths. But the author sometimes lapses into ascribing policies to politicians too much. They are just different policies than are usually ascribed. Deregulation, privatization, cutting taxes, and tight money were all implemented in different developed countries in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It wasn't about personalities or parties, it was about reforming the postwar economic consensus that had run out of steam by the late 1970s. Even Mitterand had his U-turn. The buried lede is that politics doesn't matter that much. Policies are chosen more based on "facts on the ground", which is sobering, can be reassuring to some, and also dispiriting to others if you want to effect radical change. Wonks often use the phrase "moving the needle". That's about all politics can do proactively. Mostly policy changes are forced by external circumstances.

fleddr 5y ago
Indeed, the optics of politics suggest to the public that choices are on the line at opposite extreme ends. Good versus bad. In reality, the political bandwidth of actual policy is far smaller. All developed nations swing from center left to right. Norway would be center-left, whilst Hungary would be right. Those are outer ends, most countries navigate a far smaller bandwidth, regardless of who is in charge. In the US that bandwidth is from conservative to very conservative. The democrats are a right wing party.
- TMWNN 5y ago
  >In the US that bandwidth is from conservative to very conservative. The democrats are a right wing party. Nonsense. Those (both American leftists, and Europeans who listen to them) who say that "Democrats in the US would be right wing in Europe/Canada" have to (for example) then agree that all major political parties in Canada and every European country outside the UK and Ireland are right of US Democrats, because there is no significant opposition to voter ID laws anywhere. Macron's Les Republicains got elected because voters liked his vow to get tough on unions and union pensions, and privatize more infrastructure, neither of which appears in Biden's campaign platform. Speaking of which, several European countries have privatized post offices; not just telecom companies that were parts of PTTs, but entire postal services. It is the rare European country that hasn't sold off at least part of their postal services. The EU explicitly requires postal monopolies to end in member states; whether government-owned or not, EU postal services do not have the USPS's monopoly on first-class mail. Yet no major party in the US seriously talks about privatizing the USPS.[1] Does this mean that American politics is "far to the left" of that of Germany and the UK, both of which have completely sold off their postal services to private investors? PS - For another example, consider the liberality of abortion laws in the US versus Europe. [1] And no, it's not because of the Constitution. Article I Section 8 only gives Congress the authority "To establish Post Offices", as opposed to requiring a government-run one. Certainly nothing in the Constitution mandates the USPS's first-class mail monopoly.
  - fleddr 5y ago
    Odd example, a post office. Here's some things that actually matter: a livable minimum wage, universal healthcare, accessible and affordable education, advanced safety nets for the unemployed and disabled, and so on. Fundamental progressive values available in western Europe since about 5 decades. Normalized to not even count as explicitly progressive, instead seen as just basics.
  - jgwil2 5y ago
    > Macron's Les Republicains got elected because voters liked his vow to get tough on unions and union pensions, and privatize more infrastructure, neither of which appears in Biden's campaign platform. This might be a valid point if American unions had anything close to the level of influence over US society that French unions have over France, but they don't, so it isn't.
- JamesBarney 5y ago
  >In the US that bandwidth is from conservative to very conservative. The democrats are a right wing party. This depends heavily on how you measure left vs right. Immigration, abortion, culture war issues(woke/anti-work/anti-racism), criminal justice, covid response, affirmative action. The line that separates left from right can be drawn in very different places depending on the locality.
  - fleddr 5y ago
    True, it depends on how you measure things, and I was speaking mostly in comparison to western Europe. Case in point, the right wing party in the Netherlands (VVD) that has ruled for a long time now, is fully in favor of a livable minimum wage, universal healthcare, accessible education, advanced safety nets for the unemployed and disabled. The issue of abortion has been solved in the 70s. They may tweak these systems to be more bare bones, but don't want to abolish them. So that's our right wing. Far more progressive than the US democrats, which in this comparison would even come close to the far right. So the perspective matters, but to me there's one absolute point of view: without a livable wage and universal healthcare, the very word "progressive" shouldn't even be used. Without this foundation, you're OK with letting working people starve, or to let a sick person go bankrupt or die. Many countries wouldn't even call these basics progressive or left wing, they are found in deeply capitalistic and conservative societies across the world. The woke in the US are an interesting case. They really are left wing, right now embedded in a democratic party that is comparably conservative. I smell conflict on the horizon.
  - skinnymuch 5y ago
    The Dem and republican establishment both are head over heels for neoliberalism. There’s stuff that separates them. Still makes both of them conservative. Perhaps with such Overton window movement you can say it isn’t so.

fleddr 5y ago

Indeed, the optics of politics suggest to the public that choices are on the line at opposite extreme ends. Good versus bad. In reality, the political bandwidth of actual policy is far smaller. All developed nations swing from center left to right. Norway would be center-left, whilst Hungary would be right. Those are outer ends, most countries navigate a far smaller bandwidth, regardless of who is in charge. In the US that bandwidth is from conservative to very conservative. The democrats are a right wing party.

TMWNN 5y ago
>In the US that bandwidth is from conservative to very conservative. The democrats are a right wing party. Nonsense. Those (both American leftists, and Europeans who listen to them) who say that "Democrats in the US would be right wing in Europe/Canada" have to (for example) then agree that all major political parties in Canada and every European country outside the UK and Ireland are right of US Democrats, because there is no significant opposition to voter ID laws anywhere. Macron's Les Republicains got elected because voters liked his vow to get tough on unions and union pensions, and privatize more infrastructure, neither of which appears in Biden's campaign platform. Speaking of which, several European countries have privatized post offices; not just telecom companies that were parts of PTTs, but entire postal services. It is the rare European country that hasn't sold off at least part of their postal services. The EU explicitly requires postal monopolies to end in member states; whether government-owned or not, EU postal services do not have the USPS's monopoly on first-class mail. Yet no major party in the US seriously talks about privatizing the USPS.[1] Does this mean that American politics is "far to the left" of that of Germany and the UK, both of which have completely sold off their postal services to private investors? PS - For another example, consider the liberality of abortion laws in the US versus Europe. [1] And no, it's not because of the Constitution. Article I Section 8 only gives Congress the authority "To establish Post Offices", as opposed to requiring a government-run one. Certainly nothing in the Constitution mandates the USPS's first-class mail monopoly.
- fleddr 5y ago
  Odd example, a post office. Here's some things that actually matter: a livable minimum wage, universal healthcare, accessible and affordable education, advanced safety nets for the unemployed and disabled, and so on. Fundamental progressive values available in western Europe since about 5 decades. Normalized to not even count as explicitly progressive, instead seen as just basics.
- jgwil2 5y ago
  > Macron's Les Republicains got elected because voters liked his vow to get tough on unions and union pensions, and privatize more infrastructure, neither of which appears in Biden's campaign platform. This might be a valid point if American unions had anything close to the level of influence over US society that French unions have over France, but they don't, so it isn't.
JamesBarney 5y ago
>In the US that bandwidth is from conservative to very conservative. The democrats are a right wing party. This depends heavily on how you measure left vs right. Immigration, abortion, culture war issues(woke/anti-work/anti-racism), criminal justice, covid response, affirmative action. The line that separates left from right can be drawn in very different places depending on the locality.
- fleddr 5y ago
  True, it depends on how you measure things, and I was speaking mostly in comparison to western Europe. Case in point, the right wing party in the Netherlands (VVD) that has ruled for a long time now, is fully in favor of a livable minimum wage, universal healthcare, accessible education, advanced safety nets for the unemployed and disabled. The issue of abortion has been solved in the 70s. They may tweak these systems to be more bare bones, but don't want to abolish them. So that's our right wing. Far more progressive than the US democrats, which in this comparison would even come close to the far right. So the perspective matters, but to me there's one absolute point of view: without a livable wage and universal healthcare, the very word "progressive" shouldn't even be used. Without this foundation, you're OK with letting working people starve, or to let a sick person go bankrupt or die. Many countries wouldn't even call these basics progressive or left wing, they are found in deeply capitalistic and conservative societies across the world. The woke in the US are an interesting case. They really are left wing, right now embedded in a democratic party that is comparably conservative. I smell conflict on the horizon.
- skinnymuch 5y ago
  The Dem and republican establishment both are head over heels for neoliberalism. There’s stuff that separates them. Still makes both of them conservative. Perhaps with such Overton window movement you can say it isn’t so.