James S. Robbins

Opinion columnist

You say you want a revolution? Progressive Democrats are here to help.

The progressive wing of the new House Democratic majority has lost no time in pushing radical proposals that are far out of the mainstream of American politics, but which accurately reflect their hard-left worldview. Whether it is abolishing the Electoral College, hiking the top marginal tax rate to 70 percent, or promising to “impeach the mother******” in the White House, progressives have not been shy about flying their policy freak flags.

It is refreshing to see them being so open about promoting socialism in America. The days of Presidentf Bill Clinton’s “New Democrats,” who coopted popular Republican issues and triangulated against their party’s left wing, are long gone. The new progressives, fired by their vision of an unbeatable “coalition of the ascendant” among single women, minorities and young people, see no downside in pushing the party agenda to the left edge of sanity. And because some of the newly elected progressives got on the ballot by sweeping out old-school liberal Democrats through primary challenges, they see the consensus model of government as an impediment to progress.

As first-term Massachusetts Democrat Ayanna Pressley said, “I was not sent to Washington to play nice."

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Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib are honest Democrats. And their party can't stand it.

Respecting their elders is not part of the progressive game. When retired Connecticut Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman said he hoped self-described radical New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did not represent the future, she snarked back, “New party, who dis?”

No radical progressive initiatives will become law

Progressives view Congress as just another platform for left-wing social action.

Six-term Oregon Rep. Kurt Schrader tutted that Ocasio-Cortez “doesn’t understand how the place works yet,” but her perspective is (quoting a character in the comic book "Watchman"), “I’m not locked up in here with YOU. You’re locked up in here with ME.”

Foul-mouthed Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib envisions “a revolutionary Congress that puts people over profits" and promotes vastly expanding government power, providing Medicare and free college education for all, opening borders and raising taxes.

The draft text for the proposed “Select Committee For A Green New Deal” promoted by Ocasio-Cortez reads like a wish list for every progressive cause imaginable, including “social, economic, racial, regional and gender-based justice and equality and cooperative and public ownership.”

Of course, no radical progressive initiatives have a realistic chance of becoming law, given the Republican majority in the Senate and President Donald Trump’s veto power. If anything, their legislative impotence encourages the uncompromising progressives to keep pushing the Democrats leftward. They can afford to stand on principle because they won’t be expected to sit at the bargaining table. And critics who argue that these policies would destroy market economics and republican government are simply restating progressive objectives.

Besides, as Ocasio-Cortez pointed out, facts aren’t especially important when you are convinced of your moral rightness.

Americans don't want Venezuela-style socialism

Moderate Democrats may think that it is bad politics to move so far to the margins with the 2020 election approaching, but the progressives see it as a winning strategy. It is quaint to see old white dude Joe Biden out there talking up a White House run when he epitomizes everything his party has turned against. In fact, progressives can legitimately ask how any white man — even a pseudo-Hispanic Irishman such as Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke — can be the standard bearer for a party that blames practically every social ill on either “toxic masculinity,” “white supremacy” or both.

The progressive brand has become so popular among Democrats, the movement is formulating litmus tests to weed out impostors. “You don’t just get to say that you’re progressive,” warned co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash.

The flaw in the progressive argument is that American elections are still decided in the center of the spectrum. Pushing the Democratic Party to the left seems counterintuitive when running against an incumbent president presiding over a surging economy with record employment and lower taxes. This is same type of thinking that led to President Ronald Reagan’s 49 state re-election blowout in 1984.

And despite Ocasio-Cortez’s assertion that her flavor of socialism is more inspired by Sweden than Venezuela, mainstream Americans probably would rather not take the risk that electing radical progressives will inexorably lead to the sad day when they are forced to eat their pets.

James S. Robbins, a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors and author of "Erasing America: Losing Our Future by Destroying Our Past," has taught at the National Defense University and the Marine Corps University and served as a special assistant in the office of the secretary of Defense in the George W. Bush administration. Follow him on Twitter: @James_Robbins