The decline and fall of neoliberalism in the Democratic Party

How a generation of centrist policymaking became a giant failure

Hillary Clinton.
(Image credit: REUTERS/John Gress)

If the Democrats have one thing in common, it's their shared hatred of President Trump. His shocking win over Hillary Clinton and the subsequent madness of his rule have galvanized the party in a way unseen in at least a decade. Yet their unity in opposition masks lingering and deep fissures in the party.

From the late 1980s to 2016, neoliberal ideas held hegemonic sway among the Democratic elite. But the economy created by this ideology — and the ensuing crises — is a major reason why Clinton lost to Trump and the party is completely out of power today. This obvious failure has provided an ideological opening that the American left has been eager to fill.

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.