At this very moment in the United States, the Republican party is in control of the White House and Congress as well as 32 of 50 state legislatures and 33 of 50 state governorships. My stance, therefore, that Liberalism is on The Rise will seem off at first glance. This is especially so when you take in the fact that the Democratic party lost over 1,000 elections from 2008 to 2016 under President Obama. It is undeniable that U.S. politics have shifted drastically to the Right since at least the 1980's. Recently, however, we have seen the slow, yet forceful and undeniable, resurfacing of Liberalism in the West; first with Bernie Sanders In the US and second with Jeremy Corbyn in the UK.
Sanders and Corbyn
Subjectively, anyone who watched the 2016 election in the United States unfold was a witness to the powerful effect Bernie Sanders had upon young people and the election at large. Sanders' platform, centered around the fight for single-payer healthcare, regulation of Wall Street and reform of the campaign finance system in the U.S. He was wildly popular, as the Vermont Senator earned 13.2 million votes to Hillary Clinton's 16.8 million in the Democratic primary. Sanders is also statistically the most popular politician in the United States, with a 61 percent approval rating. Jeremy Corbyn, commonly referred to as "the Bernie Sanders of the UK" here in the United States, is a member of the Labour party and a vocal Liberal on the UK scene.
Corbyn -- shocking British pundits -- fell 2 percent shy of defeating the current Prime Minister Theresa May and the Conservatives in an election on June 8. Corbyn's campaign took aim at the pro-privatization of May's government and called for a revaluation of Western foreign policy in the Middle East.
What's next for 'The Left?'
The truth is that there is no true "Left-wing" in the United States. Policies considered Liberal in the US are almost always of Right-wing origin. An example of that can be found in President Obama's Affordable Care Act or "Obamacare." What most people do not know is that Obamacare, technically known as the individual mandate system, was originally a Right-wing policy birthed by the Right-wing think tank the Heritage Foundation and supported and implemented by Republicans.
This lack of true Leftist ideology in the US seems to be at its end with the increased popularity of Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and other "progressives." In the UK it appears that the PM May has no intention to step down, and Jeremy Corbyn (whose Labour party gained 32 seats in the election as the Conservatives lost 16) will, therefore, be forced to continue to wield his influence from within the Parliament.
