American democracy plays out in the classical splendour of Washington and in domed statehouses from sea to rising sea. It also plays out in Las Vegas’s Bellagio Ballroom number six, between Frank Sinatra Drive and a chain diner with the unpromising name of Eggslut. There is no doubt as to the more impressive spectacle.
Hotel housekeepers, still uniformed and name-tagged, are among the low-paid Nevadans who caucus for Bernie Sanders as the Democratic presidential nominee. In going to his side of the chandeliered room, they have somewhat bucked their formidable union. The invisibility of cleaners has become a cinematic trope (Roma, The Chambermaid) but these ones are momentarily of world import.
That Mr Sanders wants to improve their lot is not in question. Some leftists choose purism over half a loaf, but he tends to vote for what redistributive measures come before him in Congress. He would give Americans universal healthcare, statutory paid leave and other staples of the developed world. This has encouraged the notion that he — and his rival Elizabeth Warren— would Europeanise the US. The likeliest heir to these septuagenarians, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is another who looks admiringly across the ocean.