The Fiscal Times: Bruce Bartlett- 'How Democrats Became Liberal Republicans'

Source:The Fiscal Times- U.S. President Barack Obama (Democrat, Illinois) a real Progressive Democrat. Not a Socialist. 

"Many on the left are puzzled by Barack Obama’s apparent willingness to support dramatic reductions in federal social spending. It is only because Republicans demand even more radical cuts in spending that Obama’s fiscal conservatism is invisible to the general public. But those on the political left know it and are scared...

From The Fiscal Times

Being a Democrat myself and a member of one of the three ideological factions in the Democratic Party, I know something about the DP's ideological diversity.

We have a classical liberal faction people like John Kerry that I'm a member of, that believes in a lot of personal freedom, but we also have a economic liberal bent to us thats not as social democratic as the Social Democrats in the party. 

Another political faction, people like economists Robert Reich and Paul Krugman, so-called Progressives or Liberals (Social Democrats, really) believe in the welfare state and what they believe big, centralized government can do for the people with people's money. (As they see it) That's a quick summary of just their economic philosophy, but perhaps you already have a pretty good idea yourself. The Bernie Sanders (Democratic Socialist, Vermont) wing of the party. 

Social Democrats want America to become Europe where taxes and regulations are not only high, but popular, to fund a welfare state where the country would be dependent on the Federal Government to take care of the people. This might sound like me being over partisan, but it's true. 

The Democrats are essentially made up of two large factions. The George McGovern wing of Democratic Socialists. And the John F. Kennedy wing of Classical Liberals and Progressive Democrats, who want to solve problems that America and the country faces, but wants to empower people themselves as much as possible to solve their own problems.

And right now the Liberals and Progressives are running the party with Barack Obama being one of them as President of the United States. So that's who is directing policy for the party right now. And as much as the right-wing wants to label President Obama as a Socialist, he's clearly not. And more of a New Democrat who has strong liberal leanings, but which is different from the McGovern coalition that's more government-centric. 

It's not as if the Democratic Party has moved to the right or even center to now where they are a center-right, or centrist party. But they've moved more to the center and since Bill Clinton, or I would even argue since Mike Dukakis in 1988, but who didn't have the political skills of Bill Clinton. The Democratic Party has become the progressive party in America: a center-left party that's no longer so Far-Left in America. And a lot of the Social Democrats are now members of social democratic third parties.