What has caused the Democratic Party to lurch so far left?

[DS0816]

Seriously? Today's Democratic Party of hating Wall Street and cheering black people who chant "We want dead cops", and who may actually nominate a socialist...isn't that extreme? Even if I thought with a liberal hat on...why so extreme left?

You have Hillary running against policies her husband supported. This article from several weeks ago made me think about what could have caused this.

http://hotair.com/archives/2015/11/02/has-the-liberal-wing-of-the-democrats-finally-pushed-the-party-too-far/

I'll believe it if the Democratic voters participating in the caucuses and primaries actually nominate Bernie Sanders for president of the United States.

Short of doing that, your thread title and the linked article are full of *s*.

[MM876]

It hasn't, and it's not the liberal wing that's the problem. I'm in the liberal wing and I'm by far not the most left wing person in the party. It's the progressive/whacko fringe wing that is a very vocal minority. The rest of us are over here voting for Hillary.

Now the Republicans on the other hand, they're getting ready to nominate the second coming of George Wallace for the exact same reasons.

You're right, it hasn't gone to the left. Not all of it anyway. Many Democrats are becoming more liberal, especially on social issues, but that "progressive" is a dirty word instead of an accolade to you shows how far right the Democrats have become.

The OP is wrong. Third way Democrats were created to bash those damn dirty progressives and New Deal Democrats because of the major losses of McGovern, Carter, and Mondale (and to a lesser degree, Dukakis). The party may be going further left, the elected officials are not.

[RFayette]

I reject the notion that the Democratic Party has "lurched" far to the left.  Its economic platform is fairly mainstream Keynesianism - market capitalism with a greater degree of redistributive measures in an effort to uplift the poor and working-classes.  On social issues, I agree that the party has taken an unfortunate (from my vantage point) turn, but this is largely a reflection of viewpoint shifts in the country as a whole on these issues. 

[hopper]

The Democratic Party today is far more conservative than it was in the '80s (especially not counting the old Dixiecrats).

Oh the Urban Liberals in the US House are more conservative than they were in the 80's?

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Oh the Urban Liberals in the US House are more conservative than they were in the 80's?

If they were so liberal, why do we still have right-to-scab laws?

[Rockefeller GOP]

Oh the Urban Liberals in the US House are more conservative than they were in the 80's?

If they were so liberal, why do we still have right-to-scab laws?

Because thankfully, those whackos are outnumbered...