BTW, I'm not arguing that anyone has gotten more right wing. That's your argument. My argument is that society as a whole has gotten more left wing over time. This is a secular trend, though there are cyclical variations. Europe is different case to the US but the trend is there all the same.
1960 was the year of the famous "wins of change" speech (a speech given by, one should note, a conservative politician). I would think that dismantling the British Empire was a fairly unambiguously left-wing thing to do, and I don't see signs that it's about to be re-established any time soon. The Union was more left wing than the Confederacy. Tony Blair is more left wing than Lee Kwan Yew. These all seem unambiguous as well.
It's true that there is this thing called "neo-liberalism", and it's also true that there was a significant shift in mode of government around the second world war towards a more expansive technocratic state with large welfare programmes, etc. (Note America's influence in the post-war reconstruction). This isn't about to change, and neoliberalism is more like some kind of intellectual fad amongst our elites about how to be better technocrats, like neuro linguistic programming or similar management bullshit.
"7.
Have thirty years of heightened competition, globalization, and neoliberalism decimated welfare states? No, the share of GDP going to social policy expenditures hasn’t decreased on average. Some countries have reduced the generosity of certain programs, such as pensions, unemployment insurance, sickness/disability compensation, and social assistance. But these cuts have been offset by increases in need (more elderly households, higher unemployment), rising health care costs, and new programs such as child care and other family benefits. See chapters 22, 23, 35, 38."
http://lanekenworthy.net/2010/08/25/the-sum-of-all-knowledge-on-the-welfare-state/
But I think it's a mistake to focus on economics. The more important shift is cultural. If you just look at the economics you could end up thinking that the Whigs weren't on the left, or that Germany has gotten more right wing since the Nazis.
