>If you look at polls that go issue by issue, you inevitably come to the conclusion that the "US population" at large (55-60%) would support a broad agenda of social democracy . . . the Democrats, who refuse to push for anything but the weakest, most ineffective compromise policies.
Might these two things be linked, though? If a specific policy is not often seriously proposed, it will be more rarely attacked, and therefore not tainted by the political back-and-forth that colors proposed legislation that has a more serious chance at becoming law.
Might these two things be linked, though? If a specific policy is not often seriously proposed, it will be more rarely attacked, and therefore not tainted by the political back-and-forth that colors proposed legislation that has a more serious chance at becoming law.