Bernie Sanders' 'socialism' may have mainstream appeal

[Jefferson23]

May 12. 2015



Finally, conservatives have a real socialist to go crazy about. Instead of concocting dark fairytales about how Barack Obama, a very conventional liberal Democrat, is a secret Marxist who wants to destroy the American way of life, they can shriek about Bernie Sanders, the independent Vermont senator who has never shied away from the socialist label.


Mr. Sanders is now the first person to challenge Hillary Clinton in the race to win the 2016 Democratic Party presidential nomination. Ms. Clinton, though, is not his real adversary, Mr. Sanders says. He refuses to make disparaging comments about Ms. Clinton and insists he has never run an attack ad in any campaign and will not do so against her. Mr. Sanders wants to take on the billionaires, not Hillary.


Nobody gives the 73-year-old Mr. Sanders a chance of stopping the Clinton political juggernaut, but some think he could make it veer to the left. If the Vermonter gets traction in debates and primaries with his unabashed progressive positions, Ms. Clinton might be forced to match at least some of his rhetoric. Would that be a bad thing for Democrats? Not if enough beleaguered middle class voters get a chance to consider what Mr. Sanders' version of "socialism" entails and like what they see.

Let's consider some of Mr. Sanders' wild ideas:

--Free college tuition. That is something that students can count on in many European countries and once was not uncommon in the United States. In what many consider the most golden era of the Golden State, California's great public university system was tuition-free. In many other states, students paid only a few hundred dollars per year to go to top state colleges. Now, of course, American students are graduating with crushing student loan debts while many others cannot afford to pay in the first place. Sanders' idea seems radical only in that it makes radically good sense.

in full: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bal-bernie-sanders-socialism-may-have-mainstream-appeal-20150511-story.html

[Jackpine Radical]

1. A friendly article in its way, but

ya really gotta wonder about anybody who classifies Barak as a "very conventional liberal Democrat." We don't actually have a whole lot of those any more (leaving me truly grateful for the ones we do have).

[Jefferson23]

4. I took him to mean Obama was never the anti-Christ, which is what the GOP labeled him from the

beginning.

[Jackpine Radical]

8. Why not call him what he is? A basically conservative Democrat.

I guess everyone to the left of Joe Manchin is a "Liberal Democrat" or something.

[Jefferson23]

10. Because he seems to be placing emphasis on the fact the GOP did try and sell Obama as a

radical socialist, among other egregious lies, when he wasn't, but Sanders has different views.

That's how I interpreted it.

[WDIM]

2. Public schools Public roads Public Fire department

All very popular.

Now we need public banks, public health care,
Infrastructure infrastructure infrastructure! This country needs rebuilding and improving our grandfathers built the interstates and the subways and did great things in the name of the public good. Its our turn to improve our lives.

[Jefferson23]

7. Yes, yes and yes. n/t

[-none]

11. North Dakota has both a State Bank and a State Mill & Elevator.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Dakota_Mill_and_Elevator

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/03/how-nation%E2%80%99s-only-state-owned-bank-became-envy-wall-street


North Dakota’s Nonpartisan League institutions were created on socialist principles. No other state owns a bank or a grain elevator or mill. Though these institutions had a lot of problems to solve in the beginning, they eventually became an important part of the state’s economy. Today, other states are considering opening a state-owned bank because the bank has helped to stabilize North Dakota’s economy.
http://ndstudies.gov/gr8/content/unit-iv-modern-north-dakota-1921-present/lesson-2-making-living/topic-2-great-depression-drought-ccc-wpa/section-2-bank-north-dakota-and-state-mill-and-elevator

[elleng]

3. Publicly funded elections.

Instead of seeing the spectacle of candidates for president and Congress taking turns begging for money at gatherings of billionaires and corporate lobbyists, public funding for campaigns might encourage politicians to pay attention to those of us who don't have the ability to buy influence in our government. This feels vaguely un-American only because it has been so long since money did not rule American politics. . .

Government-run health care. Yup, this one really is socialism. It's what they have in hellish commie wastelands like Germany, Denmark, Japan, Canada and the rest of the industrialized world. It's also what Americans over the age of 64 have. We call it Medicare.

Mr. Sanders is never going to be president. Most voters are not ready to approve his full program. Still, he will have done this country a great service if, through his blunt talk and grandfatherly presence, he gets more citizens to stop being distracted by scare stories and political labels and to start considering ideas on their merits. A 40-hour work week, a minimum wage and restrictions on child labor were once thought of as subversive, socialist doctrines, but they have turned out to be pretty good ideas for Americans -- except maybe for the billionaires.

[Jefferson23]

6. I am hopeful about him, more than I care to say. He is not taking on the establishment without

serious thought..so we'll see and I expect things will get shaken up, quite a bit. The lobbies
will fight him tooth and nail, I think he is prepared for them.

[libdem4life]

17. One small note: Being at the head of the Boomer generation, I had to wait until I was 66. My sister

4 years my junior, will have to wait until she is 67. So they are already chipping away at it.

[NorthCarolina]

5. OK, they're starting to plead already

pathetic. "Please...if HRC adopts some of Bernie's rhetoric for the campaign, THEN will you love her? PLEASE? "

[Nite Owl]

9. If she does adopt

his rhetoric could we believe it or will it be just for the campaign? Bernie lives what he says she hasn't.

[Robbins]

12. I am really getting sick of MSM line

Bernie sanders has no chance but may move hillary to left.

1 o they ever say any republican has no chance In 2016?
2 o people really think if he loses nomination to hillary he will have any impact on her?
3:Can you really trust the Clintons newfound income inequality with past love for wall street,banks,and corporations?

Obama's big push on TPP unlike other things should be warning to all Liberals ignore the election year talk and look on actual record.
When you do it's obvious Bernie Sanders is the one to support.

[Jefferson23]

13. That's ok, they are predictable though, that's for sure. n/t

[Rosa Luxemburg]

14. Bernie should get the student vote!

He needs to get his message out to low income families who generally get duped into voting republican

[Jefferson23]

15. Yes and I imagine he is planning to do just that. There are many groups he can liberate..lots

of potential.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

16. He will also appeal to minority groups

It is refreshing to hear him.

[chev52]

18. Bernie Sanders

I listen to him and he makes a lot of sense. Will he get much coverage to reach the average person? Probably not but I'm glad he's running.