Why does a state like California that has supermajorities in both houses of the legislature not have a livable wage, housing guarantees, universal healthcare, and other very progressive policies?
Why does a state like California that has supermajorities in both houses of the legislature not have a livable wage, housing guarantees, universal healthcare, and other very progressive policies?
I keep being told it's because of the Republicans that we can't have nice things. So what gives in California? We should be overflowing with progressive policies.
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Remember that the Democratic party is NOT leftist and is NOT progressive… it is liberal, aka generally right-of-center. The few leftists we do manage to elect generally don’t wield much power, and are undermined and sabotaged at every turn by members of “their own party” as well as Republicans. The state also has a lot of very wealthy conservative extremists, and since money is power, they wield a lot without needing pesky things like votes or democracy.
Republicans and Democrats have been moving steadily to the right for the last 40 years. So now, Democrats are where the Republicans were in the 1980s: boring, middle of the road corporatists, friends of banks, insurance and pharmaceutical companies. And the right has moved all the way into an insane asylum. We haven't had a real progressive president since Jimmy Carter and that was 50 years ago.
it is liberal, aka generally right-of-center
A lot of people don't seem to know this in the US. If you look at most Liberal Parties, they are centre or centre right. Though some are centre left as well. That's not a full list in that link.
Japan's Liberal Democratic Party is the major right wing conservative party of Japan.
Do note that the US' centre starts farther to the right than many other developed countries.