Hello readers – I wanted to take a break from the news and write an opinion piece. As I grow older, I begin to look deeper into the politics of the United States and compare it to other first-world countries. Over the past century, our electoral process has largely been simplified to a two-party race: the Democrats and the Republicans. Like many socially progressive Americans, I believed that the Democrats were my party, as they have previously advocated for social policy. However, in the past twenty years or so, the Democratic party has moved away from its socially progressive push in favor of a more moderate, unchanging approach to politics.

Despite this shift away from progressive policies, the American population at large still views the Democratic party as the “labor” or “leftist” party, as the other alternative is so far removed from leftism, and this way, the Democrats are seen as the lesser of the two evils for progressive individuals. The small amount of politically tuned Americans that have noticed this shift towards centrism in the Democratic party have reacted in a few different ways, such as apathy towards the electoral system, or by hopping to the Republicans in search of some form of “change” that they desire from progressive policy. The Republican party understands the importance of this waterlogged voting class and has rallied them with false promises of economic prosperity and by scapegoating minority groups and immigrants. The Democrats, however, now are largely composed of moderate or centrist politicians, and many of the consequences of the current election cycle will not be felt by these “leftist” politicians, rather, the people that will suffer the most are those at the bottom – working-class Americans – who turned around and voted for the one party that promised them some economic change.

This rise of centrism in the left is noticeable globally, but the younger generation is starting to understand the incompetence of the American left with the growth of leftist parties in other parts of the world. The Die Linke party in Germany has gained massive traction among the younger voting class, and in October of 2024, the Morena (left) party gained power in Mexico with the election of President Claudia Sheinbaum. When comparing Democratic policy to leftist policies in other regions of the world, the difference is night and day – it could not be more obvious how little the Democratic party cares about social reform and sits idly by while the rights of our citizens are being stripped away at record pace. The perceived “leftist” political party has become an accomplice to the goals of the right, and the general American populace is slowly starting to understand that.