What the Clinton and Sanders 'progressive' debate really shows
Why are Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders arguing so heatedly about who鈥檚 a progressive, and who isn鈥檛?
The Democratic duo spent an inordinate amount of time on the 鈥減鈥� word during Thursday night鈥檚 debate, after all. Mrs. Clinton mentioned it some 15 times in defending her right to the label.
The former secretary of State said that she and Senator Sanders share progressive goals, such as universal health care. She believes in affordable college and raising the minimum wage. And she has realistic plans for achieving these goals, she said.
鈥淎 progressive is someone who makes progress. That鈥檚 what I intend to do,鈥� Clinton said.
Sanders replied that Clinton has described herself as a moderate in the past, and you can鈥檛 be both a moderate and a progressive. His vision of the label seemed more ideological, as he pivoted to talk about the 鈥渞eality of American economic life today,鈥� dominated by wealthy interests.
鈥淲hat we have got to do is wage a political revolution,鈥� Sanders said, as he does often.
To reiterate, what are Clinton and Sanders talking about when they talk about 鈥減rogressive?鈥�
In a narrow sense, they鈥檙e struggling for ownership of a politically useful designation. As we wrote yesterday, the Democratic Party has lurched somewhat to the left in recent years, as self-identified 鈥渓iberals鈥� increase, especially in regards to social policy.
At the same time, non-Democrats have a more positive view of the word 鈥減rogressive鈥� than they do of the word 鈥渓iberal.鈥� That鈥檚 why left-leaning activists have adopted the 鈥減鈥� label in recent years; in its modern usage, it鈥檚 a synonym for 鈥渓iberal鈥� that鈥檚 much more broadly acceptable to voters.
In that context, Clinton can鈥檛 afford to let Sanders become the arbiter of who qualifies as a member of the Progressive Club.
But in a larger sense, this dispute is also about the nature of what it means to be a member of the Democratic Party.
It鈥檚 instructive that Clinton used concrete policies and proposed actions to try and burnish her progressive credentials. That was probably instinctive, but it reflects the fact that generally speaking, the Democratic Party is a broad coalition of social groups that pursues particular interests. It may be motivated much more by policy goals than ideology.
In contrast the Republican Party has long been dominated by ideologues that hew to small-government and low-tax principles. That鈥檚 the way many political scientists see it, in any case.
鈥淟eft-leaning constituencies primarily seek concrete government action from their allies in office, while right-of-center activists instead prize doctrinal purity,鈥� Matt Grossmann of Michigan State University and David Hopkins of Boston College in a 2014 academic paper.
Sanders is different. He is an ideologically motivated politician who declined to label himself a Democrat in the past, in part because he did not want to associate with the more moderate party factions represented by President Bill Clinton.
鈥淭he entire thrust of his attack on Clinton 鈥� and, by extension, much of the Democratic Party apparatus itself 鈥� is based on an ideological critique,鈥� writes David Hopkins of Boston University on his .
This is an unusual dispute for a party that does not argue about ideology per se in public very much. Clinton can鈥檛 move too far toward Sanders鈥檚 definition of 鈥減rogressive鈥� without endangering her support from the more traditional transactional parts of the party. Sanders can鈥檛 deviate much from his ideological past without endangering his unique personal appeal.
The Democratic National Committee just added more debates, didn鈥檛 it? There are at least three more scheduled through May. That all but guarantees we鈥檒l be hearing a lot more about 鈥減rogressive鈥� in the weeks to come.
