With the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in August 2022, and the normalization of progressive and social democratic politics within the Democratic Party, it is hard to deny that economic progressivism is back in the mainstream. Prominent Democratic politicians like Senators Sanders (D-VT), Fetterman (D-PA) and Warren (D-MA), and the policies they support, have only helped with that trend. 

Evidence for this leftward shift in economics can now be clearly seen in the policies passed and promoted by the Democrats. Still grabbing the headlines, the IRA has given Medicare the ability to negotiate prices for certain drugs, invest $428 billion into green energy plus $181 billion into tax enforcement, and it has imposed a $35/month cap on insulin prices for those with Medicare. 

This shift can also be seen in the overall sentiments of self-identified Democrats. According to the Pew Research Center, support for Universal Healthcare among Democrats is at 88 percent as of 2020.

The ideas currently held among Democrats and the policies of the Democratic Party are shifting towards a more progressive standard and this will have significant implications for US politics. For example, the national Democratic Party may embrace policies such as Medicare for all, stronger unions, tuition free college and expanding Social Security in the next few decades.

However, progressive economic policy is not new for the Dems. In the decades after the Great Depression and World War II, the party firmly promoted welfare programs such as Medicare and Social Security even more than they do now. Dems also strongly favored trade unions and center-left Keynesian economics.

The Democratic Party’s economic policy has taken a more left leaning turn, but ultimately time will tell if this is a temporary trend or the new standard. 

If you are a high school student who is into politics, it is an interesting time and it will be an interesting thing to observe play out, especially as the Republicans have captured the house and the debt ceiling has become an issue again.