EDITOR’S NOTE: Each week we cross-post an excerpt from Katrina vanden Heuvel’s column at the WashingtonPost.com. Read the full text of Katrina’s column here.
Insurgent progressives have scored remarkable victories in primaries up and down the ballot and are winning the domestic “ideas primary.” As Barack Obama recently acknowledged, bold reform ideas—from Medicare for All to tuition-free college to a $15 minimum wage—have become almost standard fare for Democrats.
Now, we need a forceful articulation of a progressive foreign policy.
To date, the progressive left’s national security policy has been mostly missing in action. Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-VT) presidential campaign did much to frame the domestic agenda, but paid less attention to foreign policy. Democrats in Congress have too often criticized President Trump from the right—for not being tough enough on Russia, for questioning the United States’ allies, for preemptive diplomacy with North Korea. There are a few exceptions—such as Senator Chris Murphy (CN)’s emphasis on diplomacy as well as challenges to US misadventures in Afghanistan from Senator Jeff Merkley (OR), Representative Barbara Lee (CA) and Representative Ro Khanna (CA). And the Congressional Progressive Caucus has called for a more sensible military budget. Yet none have gained much traction.
Read the full text of Katrina’s column here.