If the first night of this year's virtual Democratic National Convention reminded us of anything, it is that America has two major center-right political parties. In any European country, Democrats would be the ruling neoliberals in a longstanding governing coalition with Christian Democrats or the least radical of the former communist parties.
This is why the evening's proceedings began with American flags, religion, and the Founding Fathers. There were prayers and a group reading of the Preamble to the Constitution. Children recited the Pledge of Allegiance, complete with "under God." Sen. Bernie Sanders stood in front of a folksy backdrop of split logs and shamefacedly explained that a vote for the party of which he is not technically a member would not mean a vote for single-payer health care or any of the other causes for which he has stood over the course of his long political career.
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