> For what it's worth, the ambition on the left over here (in the US) is to eliminate means testing for programs as much as possible.
No, it's not.
There's a subset of the left that has that ambition, but there's a subset of the left that subscribes very hard to the idea that doing so is improperly aiding the wealthy (even though “eliminate means testing” mostly means “consolidate means testing into the tax system rather than duplicating the income verification function redundantly across various programs plus the tax system”.)
Now, it's true that the thought leadership on the left is mostly in the former group, and the public figures talking up the latter position are mostly center-right neoliberals. But they are using the specific rhetoric they are using because it appeals to a wide swathe of the rank-and-file left and allows them to seem progressive when what they are actually doing is defending the ability of the rich to preserve advantages that exist for them in the status quo system while blocking progress to universal access. (And that's true whether it's healthcare or college funding or whatever else.)
No, it's not.
There's a subset of the left that has that ambition, but there's a subset of the left that subscribes very hard to the idea that doing so is improperly aiding the wealthy (even though “eliminate means testing” mostly means “consolidate means testing into the tax system rather than duplicating the income verification function redundantly across various programs plus the tax system”.)
Now, it's true that the thought leadership on the left is mostly in the former group, and the public figures talking up the latter position are mostly center-right neoliberals. But they are using the specific rhetoric they are using because it appeals to a wide swathe of the rank-and-file left and allows them to seem progressive when what they are actually doing is defending the ability of the rich to preserve advantages that exist for them in the status quo system while blocking progress to universal access. (And that's true whether it's healthcare or college funding or whatever else.)