This isn’t rocket science: a further left starting point yields further left policies, even under the conditions of compromise (note the movement of the purple dot above). This is a main reason that Europe leans further to the left than the United States: it has more progressive voices in the room.

This is why even progressivism needs to move left, by acknowledging that corruption and authoritarian practices are inevitable in a capitalistic system of representative democracy. Progressives should probably start calling themselves socialists in order to get this pendulum swinging leftward. Once Americans are used to socialists being everywhere, with a voice in every political conversation, socialism won’t seem like such a dirty word anymore.