美国国家公共电台 NPR Here Are The 'Outside The Box' Progressive Ideas 2020 Democrats Are Pitching

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

With November's midterm elections already a distant memory, Democrats¹ are now shuffling² to see who will top their ticket on Election Day in 2020. And a part of that is, of course, testing out new policies. As NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben reports, some of their economic ideas would have been unthinkable for mainstream³ candidates just a few elections ago.

DANIELLE KURTZLEBEN, BYLINE⁴: Early this month, Bernie Sanders appeared on "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert," where he took a victory lap for one of his signature policies.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT")

BERNIE SANDERS: A few years ago when we said that we should create a "Medicare for All" single-payer system, I was told I'm crazy, it's extreme, I'm a fringe guy. Seventy percent of the American people in the last polls that I've seen now support "Medicare for All."

KURTZLEBEN: When Sanders introduced a "Medicare for All" bill in 2013, he had zero co-sponsors. In 2017, he had 16, several of them now rumored⁵ to be running for president in 2020. And that's part of a bigger trend around Democrats and economic policy.

STEPHANIE KELTON: I think it's pretty clear that Democrats are swinging for the fences right now.

KURTZLEBEN: That's Stephanie Kelton, an economic adviser⁶ to Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign. It's not just "Medicare for All." Some of the most prominent 2020 names are backing other sweeping⁷ and uber-progressive policy changes. Those include a $15 minimum wage, debt-free college and guaranteed jobs, just to name a handful.

JARED BERNSTEIN: There's a kind of a nuance⁸ or a specificity to the signaling in this round that looks kind of different to me.

KURTZLEBEN: That's Jared Bernstein, who served as an economic adviser to Vice⁹ President Joe Biden.

BERNSTEIN: I think there's more kind of checking a box by progressive candidates that they're willing to get outside the box. Too many boxes in that phrase - but you know what I mean.

KURTZLEBEN: Given how outside the box some of these proposals are, they also draw economic criticisms. For example, even left-leaning economists¹⁰ have said a $15 minimum wage is too high. And a "Medicare for All" program would mean overhauling¹¹ a huge sector¹² of the economy. Bernstein knows many of these criticisms exist. He even makes some himself. But he stopped short of shutting these policy ideas down completely.

BERNSTEIN: I would actually caution many of my fellow kind of progressive wonks out there not to immediately reject these ideas because of their technocratic¹³ limitations.

KURTZLEBEN: Is that a nice way of saying, like, some of these policies aren't - like, they wouldn't work exactly as they are laid out?

BERNSTEIN: It's more that they're not really laid out.

(LAUGHTER)

KURTZLEBEN: In other words, he thinks these Democrats have some admirable goals but, in many cases, need to workshop the policies that would get them there. Even enacting¹⁴ these policies is practically impossible in this political environment. But Kelton believes that pitching these ideas now is the first step in a years-long project of building out the safety net.

KELTON: It's important to put these things on the table and to begin that conversation because as support builds around them, it can become increasingly difficult for lawmakers to resist acting¹⁵.

KURTZLEBEN: There will be plenty of pushback. Michael Strain of the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute is skeptical¹⁶ at best of many of these early Democratic economic proposals.

MICHAEL STRAIN: All of them strike me as a really bad idea. Certainly, I don't like any of them. And I can't even think of any where I'm kind of shrugging my shoulders.

KURTZLEBEN: And of course, progressives aren't the only Democrats plotting presidential runs. While people like Sanders and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren are staking out the liberal territory, other would-be candidates are differentiating¹⁷ themselves. At a Washington think tank event this spring, former Vice President Joe Biden distanced himself from Sanders' populist rhetoric¹⁸.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JOE BIDEN: I love Bernie, but I'm not Bernie Sanders. I don't think 500 billionaires are the reason why we're in trouble.

KURTZLEBEN: Fortunately, all 2020 candidates have a little over a year to show voters what they stand for. Danielle Kurtzleben, NPR News.

1 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 shuffling   

adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• Don't go shuffling along as if you were dead. 别像个死人似地拖着脚走。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Some one was shuffling by on the sidewalk. 外面的人行道上有人拖着脚走过。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

3 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 rumored   

adj.传说的，谣传的v.传闻( rumor的过去式和过去分词 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• It is rumored that he cheats on his wife. 据传他对他老婆不忠。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was rumored that the white officer had been a Swede. 传说那个白人军官是个瑞典人。 来自辞典例句

6 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

7 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

8 nuance   

n.(意义、意见、颜色)细微差别

参考例句：

• These users will easily learn each nuance of the applications they use.这些用户会很快了解他们所使用程序的每一细微差别。
• I wish I hadn't become so conscious of every little nuance.我希望我不要变得这样去思索一切琐碎之事。

9 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

10 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 overhauling   

n.大修；拆修；卸修；翻修v.彻底检查( overhaul的现在分词 )；大修；赶上；超越

参考例句：

• I had no chance of overhauling him. 我没有赶上他的可能。 来自辞典例句
• Some sites need little alterations but some need total overhauling. 有些网站需要做出细微修改，而有些网站就需要整体改版。 来自互联网

12 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

13 technocratic   

adj.由技术专家官员组成的；受技术官僚影响的

参考例句：

• But there is method in Europe's technocratic madness, the official went on. 但欧洲的专家政治论者的愤怒是有原因的，这个位官员接着说道。 来自互联网
• Mr Juppé was floored in part by his contemptuous, technocratic attitude towards union leaders. 朱佩对工会领导蛮横与不屑，是导致他一败涂地的部分原因。 来自互联网

14 enacting   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Generally these statutes apply only to wastes from reactors outside the enacting state. 总之，这些法令只适宜用在对付那些来自外州的核废料。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• In addition, the complexion of enacting standards for live working is described. 另外，介绍了带电作业标准的制订情况。

15 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

16 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

17 differentiating   

[计] 微分的

参考例句：

• They succeed in differentiating the most commodity-like products. 在最通用的日用产品方面，它们也能独树一帜标新立异。
• The simplest and most effective method of differentiating areas is to use different colours. 区别面状要素最简单而又行之有效的办法，是使用不同的颜色。

18 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。