Bernie Sanders on Socialism

A close friend of mine is a supporter of Bernie Sanders for president.  He thinks that Sanders could message better.  So, he wrote Sanders a speech that explains Sanders' notion of socialism.  Here it is.

Hello, everyone, and thank you for coming.

I am running to be the Democratic candidate for President of the United States in 2020. Yes, your Democratic candidate, even though the party I have been aligned with for all these years in the breathtakingly wonderful state of Vermont is called the Democratic Socialist party.

So, why am I running as a Democrat? Because I AM a Democrat – not a Bill Clinton Democrat or a Barack Obama Democrat or a Jimmy Carter Democrat – but an FDR Democrat. A lot of you barely know who the great man was, but I was a baby when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president – and the stories I heard growing up! Who today would NOT be an FDR Democrat? I’ll tell you who; Americans who are out for themselves alone, not their country, not their fellow-Americans, but themselves! “Am I my brother’s keeper?”, sneered Cain when God asked the brother killer where his brother Abel was. “NO” shout these selfish Americans, “I am NOT my brother’s keeper!” We Democrats say “Yes, we are our brother’s keeper!” Not as killers, but as real brothers. And, as Ben Franklin said upon signing the Declaration of Independence (and dependence upon each other): “We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.”

FDR was president when the country was suffering from the Great Depression, and he created jobs for tens of millions of Americans who had none. None of the men and women who he put to work bitched that the government – rather than a private corporation – was paying him or her for a solid day’s work, that benefitted all Americans. He also presided during World War II. Indeed, FDR had begun to build up the military for the inevitable war years before the Japanese attacked us at Pearl Harbor; the people were near universally isolationist until we were attacked. And he led the “Greatest Generation” of Americans to a hard-fought victory toppling the monsters Hitler and Mussolini with a little help from our friends, and a little help from our Cold War enemies, too. The reason I have aligned myself with the Democratic Socialists of America is they are as close as we can get to what FDR stood for, while many if not most Democrats in Congress are what I call Republican lite. And Republicans really don’t care about you or their countrymen, they care about themselves. All they ever seem to say is “we will cut your taxes!”  Which, unhappily, appeals to altogether too many citizens!

But I am NOT a socialist! Indeed, many if not most Democratic Socialists are not either; some are. What, then, really, is a socialist?

A socialist is 1) someone who believes in the elimination of private property. No home ownership, fgodsake. Have you ever heard me advocate that? Not even my wife and children have ever heard me talk of such a thing. Socialism includes 2) “public ownership of the means of production.” In plain English, no private corporations; corporations are just another arm of the national government. Have you ever heard me advocate that? Not even my wife and children have ever heard me talk of such a thing. And 3) socialism includes central planning of all industry and commerce. Have you ever heard me advocate that? Not even my wife and children have ever heard me talk of such a thing. Indeed, many socialistically INSPIRED government programs such as Social Security are hallmarks of our Democratic Socialist nation. And they ARE centrally planned – sort of – but with your input as citizens and voters. Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has claimed a million times that “Democrats (not just Democratic Socialists) want equality of outcome; we (Republicans) want equality of opportunity.” While a few old-fashioned socialists may indeed have idealized equality of outcome, no Democrat or even Democratic Socialist that I know has ever declared for equality of outcome; indeed, we are FINE with equality of opportunity and we have a long history of fighting THAT fight.  On the other hand, never have I seen a piece of legislation aimed at equality of opportunity with a Republican sponsor, not even Paul Ryan himself.

A synonym for Democratic Socialist is Democratic Capitalist. Why is that? Because few of us Democratic Socialists really want to repeal capitalism, we just want to make the rules of the game more … uhh … democratic. Today, our unfettered free-market capitalism has run amok, inevitable as its rules were written by its most successful players, our most powerful for-profit corporations and our billionaire class. We Democratic Socialists want a democratic capitalist system whose rules are written by the people, not the billionaire class. Furthermore, all advanced economies are a mixture of capitalistic and socialistic ideas anyway, so what is the fuss?

All we Democratic Socialists want is to rewrite some of the rules of the game so that they end up benefiting everyone, not just the billionaire class.

That’s it, folks. I am NOT a socialist, nor am I a Republican lite Democrat, I am a Democrat in the great tradition of FDR.  But even so, what is wrong with having some socialistic ideas?  After all, Social Security is a socialistic idea.  Republicans never tire of talking about "privatizing" Social Security.  But when they have had the opportunity – when they have owned the White House and the Senate and the House of Representatives, under Trump, Bush I and II, Reagan fgodsake – they go silent, as they know that the people would skin them alive if they ever got that stupid.  It is a bone they toss to their base to calm them down, that's all.  And Medicare, another socialistic idea.  Do you know anyone with Medicare coverage who wants to kill the program?  Police departments, fire departments, public schools, national and state parks and forests, all socialistic ideas.  Pure socialism is not a particularly good idea; but there are many socialistic ideas that nearly all of us take for granted that we would fight to protect from a capitalist assault.  What is wrong with a mixed system?  Every major economy on Earth is a mixed system, a mixture of capitalism and socialism.  Republicans are slaves to a less than perfect ideology that even Adam Smith would not defend.

Please tell your friends who are afraid of socialism that while I am a member of the Democratic Socialist party that I am at the same time a Democratic Capitalist, not a card-carrying member of any socialist party or especially the Communist party. But I AM a card-carrying member of FDR’s Democratic party. And, for those who would accuse FDR of being the very model of “Tax and Spend” liberal Democrats, may I remind them that 70% of the entire National Debt was the gift of irresponsible Republican presidents and another 20% was added by a Democratic president to fight the Republican Great Recession of 2008.

Donald Trump won the vote of some of you because he claimed to feel your pain, even though he has lived a life with a silver spoon up his ass. I say the same, I feel your pain, and I was raised just a little bit poorer than he was. But an essential difference between Trump and me is that he CLAIMS that he will not spend your money to fix what is broken, or pay with new American Debt, while I tell you clearly that if you are doing really well for yourself and your family, you may experience a hike in your taxes; and if you belong to the millionaire and billionaire class, you will surely pay more taxes than you have. But maybe you will feel better about yourself – more honestly patriotic – helping out as you know you should. If you are a member of the American working class, you will surely not suffer on my account.  You all know that I will work my tail off to rebuild the American Middle Class as it existed from 1946 through 1970.

Join me in our worthy cause; let us make the United States of America WE again, not a lot of selfish ME's.

I ask for your vote.

Thank you and may God bless the United States of America