E.J. Dionne Jr.: Clinton won the debate, but Sanders made it interesting
WASHINGTON -- At some point during Tuesday night's Democratic debate, many people in living rooms across the country undoubtedly turned to each other with the same basic thought about Hillary Clinton: Oh, so that's why she's the front-runner.
They also experienced something historic: For the first time in the modern political era, Americans got to watch leaders of a mainstream political party debate the relative merits of capitalism and democratic socialism. And for once, socialism was cast not as the ideology that produced a brutal dictatorship in the old Soviet Union, but as a benign and, yes, democratic outlook that has created rather attractive societies in places such as Denmark and Sweden.
Whatever happens to Bernie Sanders' candidacy, he will deserve credit for having widened our political horizons.
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http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_28974350/e-j-dionne-jr-clinton-won-debate-but