Democrats Throw Cold Water on Progressive Agenda

Candidates are wasting no time revealing the fault lines between progressives and moderates as they open the next wave of debates

Some 2020 presidential candidates at the 2nd Democratic debate threw cold water on bolder progressive ideas. The first heat of the Democrats' second round of presidential primary debates gets underway. Sanders and Warren are at center stage. That gives voters on the party's left flank a chance to size up the two leading progressives in their first head-to-head matchup. In the June debates, Warren was matched up against several trailing candidates, with Sanders and the other leading candidates debating on the second night.

The candidates are wasting no time revealing the fault lines between progressives and moderates as they open the next wave of debates. Warren and Sanders are using their opening statements to hammer an economic and political system they say is rigged for the wealthy and corporations. Warren warns that Democrats can't solve problems with "small ideas and spinelessness. I don't understand why anybody goes to all the trouble of running for president of the United States to talk about what we really can't do and shouldn't fight for.” Sanders notes that half of U.S. households "are living paycheck to paycheck.”

But several other candidates are taking veiled shots at the two leading progressives for liberal proposals like single-payer health care. In the modern era, a movement that identifies as progressive is "a social or political movement that aims to represent the interests of ordinary people through political change and the support of government actions" In the 21st century, those who identify as progressive may do so for a variety of reasons. Progressivism is the support for or advocacy of social reform. As a philosophy, it is based on the idea of progress, which asserts that advancements in science, technology, economic development and social organization are vital to the improvement of the human condition.

Brut.