General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPerhaps Bernie's candidacy will allow us to breathe again
We are going to hear an awful lot about Senator Sanders being an avowed socialist and out establishmentarian media is going to do everything it can to make him sound like the reincarnation of Joseph Stalin. Let me assure everyone, the two are easily distinguishable, but don't expect that to deter the Koch Kings from slipping media moguls some extra free $peech to pay no attention to the real Bernie Sanders and smear him as a Bolshevik. Of course, the Bernie Sanders you'll hear about on FoxNews will resemble the real Bernie Sanders about as much climate change denialism resembles science.
I am not a socialist. I would be very happy to return to the economic models that worked so well for America until the election of Ronald Reagan. At the same time, I am not at all anti-socialist. There is no such thing as a "moral" economic system, as claimed by the followers of Ayn Rand. An economic system is something that works well for everyone or is in need of repair, at least some tweaking, otherwise.
Evil does not come into the world from economics, the art of producing goods and services and resolving scarcity with people's needs, but from politics, the art of gaining and maintaining power, too often only for an elite class who spend too much time creating myths about how they're better than the rest of us in order to justify their privileged positions, which is almost always undeserved.
Capitalism or socialism is neither moral nor immoral. Government by coercion of the few for the benefit of the few over the many is at the expense of the many is immoral; democracy, government by free citizens where citizenship is equal, universal and unalienable, is the only moral system of government.
Socialism is not the greatest threat to mankind at this moment. Neither is Islamic terrorism, which can be easily contained with just governments and good police work. That's right, I'm talking about the Frat Boy the Big Dick, who told us it took a war to contain Islamic terrorism. No, it didn't. It took a war to steal Iraq's natural resources.
The greatest threat is to humanity today is neoliberalism. This is the doctrine that insists that unregulated capitalism, and nothing else, will meet all of humanity's need forever. Its adherents proclaim freedom, but its only freedom for the elite. The rest of us will toil for low wages, breathe carbon fumes, drink flammable water and be wary of getting sick. Politicians will be so bought and sold that they will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
No, I am not a socialist, but I will vote for a social democrat like Bernie Sanders before I vote for another neoliberal, especially one who tries to mask his (or her) neoliberalism in unconvincing populist rhetoric. Any politician supporting the Trans-Pacific Partnership is doing a lousy job of hiding his (or her) neoliberalism.
For this reason, the candidacy of Bernie Sanders is a most welcome phenomenon.
arcane1
(38,613 posts)First Speaker
(4,858 posts)spanone
(135,816 posts)Cheese Sandwich
(9,086 posts)The policies that he fights for are liberal, progressive policies that are right in the mainstream of the American progressive movement. I would call him a social democrat maybe, which is people who try for more regulations on the capitalist economy and have great public services and a social safety net. Social democracy is what they have in Denmark, Sweden, etc. And those are the countries Bernie often uses as positive examples.
So for progressive Democrats, all you FDR and LBJ Democrats who might be worried or wondering what's all this socialism talk with Bernie, it's really nothing to worry about. What you see is what you get with that guy.
VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)but then you have to sell the American voters on "European style Socialism" .....they don't even realize they are ALREADY Socialists!
Most in the Military do not realize they have Universal Single Payer Healthcare....neither do Seniors as we have seen....
Most do not realize the Social Security they are dependent upon in their old age.....is Socialism. That is the reality on the ground....and on top of that...we have opposition that has ENDLESS supplies of money to sell them on he exact opposite and to reinforce their ignorance...
Very Orange
(31 posts)that reflected perfectly on the difference between Democratic socialist and Democratic neoliberal
Many fail to realize that progressive issues won in 2014, while Third Way Democrats ran away from progressive issues (and Obama) and lost.
It's time to put the winning hand back in, and that's progressivism. We need true progressives to run in every Democratic primary, cleaning up Third Way messes and giving Sanders the capacity to bring America back to the left, and back to its working order, plus economic policies and reforms will be done.
We progressives have to bring the noise to the Democratic Party and get serious about running and challenging the status quo.
cali
(114,904 posts)Jack Rabbit
(45,984 posts)I started writing this as a reply to your reply to me on your thread.