Washington • It’s not easy being on the moderate left these days. Politicians and activists committed to defending liberal democracy and a practical, socially generous approach to government find themselves constantly torn between short-term imperatives and long-term hopes.
This was brought home last week by two very different political struggles. In the United States, congressional Democrats divided over whether to provide the votes Republicans needed to pass a budget bill to keep the government open. In Germany, Social Democratic leaders agreed to form a grand coalition that would extend Chancellor Angela Merkel’s tenure, but the arrangement could still be voted down by the party’s rank-and-file.