What do Democrats have to do with "extreme leftists"? There is no remotely viable Communist party in the US, not even a Socialist party. Extreme leftists do not have any power in the US.
People who don't want to go to college have always had the option of not going. The difficulty is when people want to go but it is not feasible for financial reasons. Some people think it is nice to help others do whatever it is they want to do. There is no 'extreme leftist' conspiracy here.
Welcome to the US, where parties that would be villified for being extreme-right in Europe are actually on the left side of the aisle, and the left side as it exists in Europe simply doesn't exist.
Welcome to the country where the major leftist party is actually arguably anti-union. In most areas it's actually quite a bit right-of-center, in economic cases it's extreme right.
If a rightist party in most European states proposed reducing a European national health insurance to the level of the ACA, they'd immediately be cordoned off and laughed out of parliament. They know this, and so it never happens.
Read the whole post. I'm not just trashing the left or "Democrats". I'm critical of all political factions on this issue and point out that the most evil faction (the corporatists) is the only one that got what it wanted.
People who don't want to go to college have always had the option of not going. The difficulty is when people want to go but it is not feasible for financial reasons. Some people think it is nice to help others do whatever it is they want to do. There is no 'extreme leftist' conspiracy here.