Sanders and Warren are basically ‘New Deal’ Democrats. Left of center, but not absurdly so. The issue is that the Republicans have gone so far to the right that they’ve dragged the Overton window far to the right, making historically Democratic positions (e.g. guaranteed income and catastrophic healthcare for over-65s, free education for veterans) seem extreme.

My own theory is that the Republicans drive to the right came as a reaction to the US having (gasp!) a Black president. Obama was not a left leaning Democrat; I’d compare his positions to those of Eisenhower. But the fact that he was Black energized the Gingrich-led libertarians, much the way the White South reacted to Reconstruction.