The center-left needs to step up and show America what it stands for

These are tough times for center-left parties, which increasingly find themselves squeezed into a shrinking middle ground by populist insurgents on the right and left. Few are rising to the challenge of offering restive voters an inspiring alternative to populist prescriptions for sweeping economic and political change.

That leaves most of the political passion and energy churning on the political extremes. MAGA and the Democratic Socialists of America certainly don’t lack bold ideas for change. Even if they do more harm than good, like President Trump’s inflationary tariffs, or unravel under scrutiny, like progressive proposals to abolish private health insurance and pay for a wide array of so-called free public goods by taxing wealth.

But even if they’re peddling snake oil, right- and left-wing populists have sharply defined beliefs and earn points for strong convictions. The center-left, in contrast, suffers from an identity crisis: Voters have only a fuzzy idea of what it stands for. Worse, working-class voters here and across Europe tend to lump center-left and center-right parties into an out-of-touch political establishment that ignores their struggles and governs on behalf of affluent elites and entrenched interests.

What should center-left parties like the Democrats offer voters? Moderation? Compromise and bipartisanship? Political civility? There’s something to be said for each of these, but they don’t add up to a compelling governing philosophy.

Nor is this a time for policy incrementalism. Working Americans are fed up with economic arrangements they see as deeply unfair, the fracturing of our national identity and civic unity and a sclerotic federal government’s inability to get big things done. They’re looking for structural remedies for structural problems.

Democrats aren’t condemned to vapid centrism. They only need to dust off their own rich legacy of bold and modernizing reform rooted in America’s liberal tradition.

It includes Woodrow Wilson’s progressive reforms of early 20th century, which enabled the federal government to adapt to a rapidly industrializing and urbanizing America, Roosevelt’s New Deal for “ bold, persistent experimentation ” to combat the Great Depression, Harry Truman’s postwar design of a new architecture for national and collective security, Lyndon Johnson’s forceful advocacy of landmark civil rights laws and Bill Clinton’s “ New Democrat ” innovations for reducing welfare dependence and crime, creating alternatives to failing public schools and reinventing rather than simply expanding government.

The big question today is whether Democrats will replicate this fusion of radically pragmatic means to liberal ends or keep moving left. Pressure to do just that accelerated dramatically this past summer as young democratic socialists successfully challenged liberal and even progressive Democratic incumbents in primary campaigns.

The populist left complains that mainstream Democrats aren’t fighting hard enough against President Trump. That’s ironic, since their ideas have made a major contribution to Democrats’ present minority status by alienating working-class voters. When you’re completely out of power, you don’t have many weapons to fight with.

Yet some party leaders hope to co-opt leftist energy even while distancing themselves from ideas that excite white college liberals but leave swing voters cold.

U.S. liberals historically have found common ground with European social democrats, like Britain’s Labour Party. Both support a mixed economy that combines free markets and private enterprise with government intervention and public services. But U.S. liberalism and socialist-style anti-capitalism, collectivism and cultural radicalism are fundamentally incompatible creeds . Mushing them together will only compound the center-left’s hazy profile.

It’s not enough for Democrats to oppose left-wing ideas as electoral losers. They also need to say why those ideas are wrong on the merits. Otherwise, they’ll leave the impression of a weak center-left that won’t fight for its own principles.

For example, Democrats should unequivocally reject progressive demands to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement as a de facto return to open borders, which violates Americans’ right to decide who enters our country and on what terms. The same goes for progressive demands for Medicare for All, which carries an astronomical price tag of at least $35 trillion over a decade.

The center-left should also steer clear of slopulist proposals that promise everyone new tax cuts or new government benefits supposedly paid for by soaking the rich. Instead, Democrats should target tax relief on working families, by cutting payroll taxes and replacing the lost revenue with a progressive consumption tax.

Nor should the center-left let anti-AI populists define the party’s position on this supremely important issue. Rather than joining the progressive stampede to block data centers, Democrats should focus on erecting a public safety framework that mandates human control over self-improving AI. The risks of a break-out are large; so are the potential rewards of turbo-charging economic productivity and scientific endeavors with AI.

By defining itself clearly as a liberal force for fundamental reform in politics and government, the center-left can help move America past today’s polarizing populism.

Will Marshall is president and founder of Progressive Policy Institute.