Profiles in Triangulation
Centrist Democrats have always postured as bold realists dispensing hard-headed truths. But there’s nothing bold or courageous about deferring to corporate interests instead of your progressive base.
488 Articles by: Luke Savage
Luke Savage is a columnist at Jacobin. He is the author of The Dead Center: Reflections on Liberalism and Democracy After the End of History.
Winning Socialism Is About Winning Freedom
Bernie Sanders’s speech on socialism made a bold case for real freedom — the freedom to flourish, not just the right to be left alone.
Tommy Douglas, Canada’s Great Prairie Socialist, Wasn’t Always So Beloved
The late Tommy Douglas, Canada’s venerable socialist leader and the father of its single-payer health care system, is now revered as the “greatest Canadian.” But in his time, he was a radical and an enemy of the establishment.
Mayor Pete’s War on the Homeless
Pete Buttigieg is a charming man who speaks some Norwegian and wears wool socks. He also oversaw a wave of evictions and waged a campaign against South Bend’s homeless.
Bernie Sanders Wants to Democratize Your Workplace
Bernie Sanders’s embrace of worker ownership and control aims to extend democracy from the political sphere to the economy.
The Red Children’s Stories
In nineteenth-century Britain, a rich tradition of socialist fables and children’s stories denounced the capitalist system and its frightening inequities.
Nancy Pelosi Is the Past. Democratic Socialism Is the Future.
Don’t let Nancy Pelosi tell you what’s mainstream. Voters want politics that stands for something — not more centrist equivocating.
Don’t Settle for Opportunity
‘Equality of opportunity’ is meaningless. Lacking opportunity isn’t our problem — we just need equality.
We Can Do Way Better Than These Guys
Beto, Buttigieg, and Biden all come from the same mold — they’re empty suits and poll-tested brands. We can and should demand something better.
Art for the 99 Percent
Rich kids are way more likely to grow up to be artists. And that’s because capitalism doesn’t give us all the freedom to reach our creative potentials.
Remembering the Battle of Wood Green
Forty-two years ago today, antifascists beat back a violent, far-right mob that had descended on a diverse neighborhood of North London. Among the antifascist organizers was a young Labour councillor named Jeremy Corbyn.
Democratic Insiders Are Right to Be Afraid of Bernie Sanders
Party elites and big donors aren’t afraid of Bernie Sanders losing to Trump. They’re afraid he’ll win.
Democrats Are Failing Ilhan Omar
Trump is determined to vilify Ilhan Omar and Muslim Americans in general. Democrats have failed to unequivocally defend them.
The Diffidence of a Liberal
The arc of Paul Krugman’s thinking shows the paradox of liberal reformism constrained by a conservative understanding of the possible.
Liberalism’s Hollow Partisans
In 2016 we learned that for some liberals, the best time to push for fundamental change is never. In 2020, we can expect more of the same.
The Real Working Class Is Invisible to the Media
The media doesn’t talk much about working-class America. But when it does, it mainly has one thing to say about it: that it’s entirely white, male, and very right-wing. All those things are lies.
Canada in the Age of Working-Class Power
In the 1970s, Canada’s working class was at the height of its power, combining shop-floor militancy, political ambition, and intellectual confidence. Canada’s liberal elites, led by Pierre Trudeau, were determined to crush it.
With Beto O’Rourke, There’s No There There
The stakes are too high in 2020 for another charismatic, ideologically empty politician, standing for everything and nothing in particular, like Beto O’Rourke.
Abolish the Billionaire Class
Billionaires are the grotesque products of an exploitative, immoral economic system. We should get rid of them.
America Is an Oligarchy. It Doesn’t Have to Be.
Just three men have more wealth than 160 million Americans. We’re ruled by a rigged system designed to exploit the many for the benefit of the few.