EDITORIAL: Leftists are eating the Democratic Party alive

A proposed state takeover of the nation’s health care system has proven the defining issue of the first two Democratic cattle calls. It’s also symbolic of how the progressive wing of the party seeks to dynamite so many of the economic and political traditions that have created the freest, most prosperous nation in the history of the world.

To hear Democrats spin it, duly elected President Donald Trump is a dire threat to America and democracy. In fact, it is today’s Democratic Party that has become radicalized and now sits poised to nominate a presidential candidate who would dismantle a host of the country’s public and private institutions.

In addition to their plans to nationalize 15 percent of the economy by outlawing private health care contracts, at least two top Democrats on the stage in Detroit made clear their utter disdain for free markets, the greatest generator of wealth civilization has ever known. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ affinity for Soviet-style collectivism is clear, but Sen. Elizabeth Warren has taken to accusing corporations of “sucking” money from the economy — as if they don’t produce any value. As an ardent proponent of the world’s No. 1 vampire, the public sector, she apparently resents the competition.

But in addition to health care and the economy, progressives have plenty of other symbols of liberty and democracy in their crosshairs:

■ The First Amendment. On Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced an effort to amend the Bill of Rights to allow federal functionaries to regulate political speech. When the Supreme Court rejected related legislation in 2010 as contrary to the First Amendment, government lawyers admitted during oral arguments that the law in question would allow Washington to ban books or political pamphlets.

■ The Supreme Court. As many as a dozen Democratic presidential candidates support a court-packing scheme intended to blow up more than 150 years of precedent by adding justices to ensure leftist judges dominate the panel. Even progressive superstar Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg recently came out against the proposal.

■ Presidential ballot access. California Gov. Gavin Newsom just signed a bill that would keep Mr. Trump off his state’s GOP primary ballot unless he releases his tax returns. This appears to be an especially acute case of Trump Derangement Syndrome and is constitutionally dubious, to say the least. But it’s another example of the lengths many Democrats will go to manipulate democratic and political processes in pursuit of power.

It’s certainly not unusual for candidates to appeal to party extremists during primary season. But, with a handful of exceptions, the Democrats have lurched so far left so fast that they’re in danger of leaving little room for retreat when courting vital independent swing voters during the 2020 campaign.