The rise of zombie liberalism: Half-dead, half-alive

By Alec MacGillis,
WashPost
Published: July 1

The American left is exultant: Expanding civil rights and the retreat of discrimination on race, gender and now sexual orientation mark major milestones for the traditional liberal worldview.

The American left is in mourning: Income inequality has soared to levels not seen since the Gilded Age and the Roaring Twenties, anti-tax orthodoxy is ascendant on the right, the safety net is under attack, and labor unions are barely hanging on.

If the country is becoming more liberal on accepting minority rights, why is the left having such a hard time making progress on its bread-and-butter issues of class and economics, which were once its central, animating concerns? Why is liberalism half-dead, half-alive?

New York’s vote in favor of same-sex marriage captures this peculiar condition. The state that became by far the most populous to legalize gay marriage is also home to the financial industry, which has played a large part in expanding the glaring gap between the ultra-rich and everyone else. Helping push the marriage vote were billionaire financiers who have spent heavily to elect Republicans and block Democratic efforts to regulate Wall Street. And the hero of the vote, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has garnered praise from the right for balancing New York’s budget by cutting public education and public employees, instead of raising taxes on millionaires, as liberals preferred that he do.

(More here.)