Political discourse in the US & the UK has often been closely aligned, especially since the Reagan- Thatcher era set what we now know as the ‘neo-liberal’ consensus. But it is the failure of so-called trickle down economics and the consequent widening chasm of wealth and income inequality that have exposed a deep dissatisfaction with our political elites.
These professional politicians who have imposed iniquitous regimes of austerity, not on those who have repeatedly thrown Western economies over a cliff, but on the ordinary hard-working people, the poor and the disabled are being rattled by a wave of populist anger. And one result of this transformational storm has been a groundswell of support for two self-declared “socialist” politicians – Jeremy Corbyn in the UK and Bernie Sanders in the US.
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has said he is aware of the rise of the left-wing British MP, [who won] the Labour party leadership contest, and says he sees parallels between his campaign and the current state of left-wing politics in the UK.
“Whether it’s the UK or here in the US, people are sick and tired of establishment politics,” Sanders told BuzzFeed News on the campaign trail in Iowa. “They are sick and tired of a politics in which people continue to represent the rich and the powerful.”
For a British observer, watching Sanders is like watching Corbyn two months ago – a candidate drawing enormous crowds but still dismissed as an unelectable crank by the mainstream media and political establishment. In the UK that changed when it was realised that the enormous rallies and social media backing were actually turning into real support at the polls.
Just as Corbyn unexpectedly [won] in the Labour leadership, so Sanders is surprising the Democratic establishment by leading Hillary Clinton in early polls in Iowa and New Hampshire.
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