The One European Country Where the Progressive Left is Winning -- and we could too

[somsai]

In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has changed laws and marginalized critics to help him remain in office. In Austria, Britain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and elsewhere, the far right has grown. In Germany’s election on Sunday, the governing center-left party finished third, behind the center right and far right. In both Canada and Australia, polls suggest that center-left governments will lose elections this year. And in the United States, Joe Biden left office with dismal approval ratings, and Trump won the popular vote for the first time last year. In each of these cases, a major explanation is that working-class voters have drifted from their historical home on the political left and embraced some mix of populism, nationalism and conservatism. Over the past several years, there is arguably not a single high-income country where a center-left party has managed to enact progressive policies and win re-election — with the exception of Denmark.

Since the Social Democrats took power in 2019, they have compiled a record that resembles the wish list of a liberal American think tank. They changed pension rules to enable blue-collar workers to retire earlier than professionals. On housing, the party fought speculation by the private-equity industry by enacting the so-called Blackstone law, a reference to the giant New York-based firm that had bought beloved Copenhagen apartment buildings; the law restricts landlords from raising rents for five years after buying a property. To fight climate change, Frederiksen’s government created the world’s first carbon tax on livestock and passed a law that requires 15 percent of farmland to become natural habitat. On reproductive rights, Denmark last year expanded access to abortion through the first 18 weeks of pregnancy, up from 12 weeks, and allowed girls starting at age 15 to get an abortion without parental consent.
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American progressives venerate the middle decades of the 20th century, for good reason. From the wreckage of the Depression, the United States built a prosperous, inclusive economy between the 1930s and the 1970s. Incomes for the poor and middle class rose faster, in percentage terms, than they did for the wealthy. Although racial injustice remained acute, it receded. The Black-white pay gap began shrinking in the 1940s and shrank even more during the civil rights movement. In Europe, this same period was also good for workers. The French refer to it as Les Trente Glorieuses, or the 30 glorious years.

There is one part of this story progressives often forget, however.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/24/magazine/denmark-immigration-policy-progressives.html?unlocked_article_code=1.0k4.zsFC.0F3ud0xBCep2&smid=url-share