Bernie Sanders:
“When I use the world socialist–and I know some people aren’t comfortable about it—I’m saying that it is imperative [that we] create a government that works for all and not just the few.”
Bernie Sanders can explain what he means by "socialist." The fact that he needs to explain is the problem.
"Socialism" is a dangerous label. Who says so? Voters for one. Also Trump.
Facebook commentary has taken this blog to task for this observation.
Milynn: "Wow, what an awful hit piece."
Mike: Socialism is a brand Americans fear "because 'well meaning' corporatists like Peter Sage propagate such fears."
Frank: "Wow! You write like a right wing propagandist."
Mike: "Your writing, intentionally or not, is a most subtle, if not insidious, form of McCarthyism."
And lots more.
Many young left activists embrace the label "socialist." It is a sign of progressive policy and political steadfastness. Candidates and voters who won't call themselves "socialists" are corporatist sellouts, or worse.
And lots more.
Many young left activists embrace the label "socialist." It is a sign of progressive policy and political steadfastness. Candidates and voters who won't call themselves "socialists" are corporatist sellouts, or worse.
Bernie Sanders identifies himself as a "Democratic Socialist." He explains he is not a Marxist and does not think government should own the means of production. "I do believe the middle class and the working families who produce the wealth of America deserve a fair deal."
Sanders can make the plausible argument that he is a "socialist" only in the way that FDR was called a socialist. Sanders is trying to re-define "socialism" in the public mind into something mainstream and positive: Social Security, Medicare, the 40 hour workweek, fair pay and an end to trickle-down.
FDR's New Deal "socialism" was before World War Two and it preceded our alliance with the USSR. Then we had four decades of Cold War with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, with wars in Korea and Vietnam, an "Iron Curtain" in Europe, and a world divided into two alignment camps.
Voters over the age of fifty recall the USSR as the great rival. Socialism was a dirty word. Democrats got accused of it. A recent Gallup poll showed 47% of Americans would not vote for a "well qualified person in their party" if the person was a "socialist."
Facebook supporters of Bernie tell me fears of Socialism "are founded on misinformation and corporate media manipulation of the stories that are broadcast." Another blog reader added that it wasn't "Socialism," it was "'Democratic Socialism!' Do you really not know the difference??"
Voters over the age of fifty recall the USSR as the great rival. Socialism was a dirty word. Democrats got accused of it. A recent Gallup poll showed 47% of Americans would not vote for a "well qualified person in their party" if the person was a "socialist."
Facebook supporters of Bernie tell me fears of Socialism "are founded on misinformation and corporate media manipulation of the stories that are broadcast." Another blog reader added that it wasn't "Socialism," it was "'Democratic Socialism!' Do you really not know the difference??"
I do. The general voting public over age fifty does not.
Bernie's "socialist" label invites memories of totalitarian central planning and confiscation as it was practiced by countries that openly adopted the name "socialism," not Western European countries that adopted social welfare policies. The poll is one form of evidence of this.
Bernie Sanders and his allies may be attempting to re-define "Socialism," but Trump understands that, fair or unfair, a meaning and association is already in place.
Trump uses the word as a weapon.
I consider the email below a primary source, evidence of the political valence of the term "socialist," and a preview of the upcoming campaign. The email uses some form of the word "socialist" seven different times. Here, unedited and in full, is the email I received from the Trump campaign yesterday. (I have intentionally signed up for emails from all the campaigns, Democratic and Republican, so I can monitor what they send.)
The email subject was "Reject Socialism."
3 comments:
We all might rightly fear any such "revolutions from above." Tyranny springs from the top, regardless of its label.
Bernie may have made a strategic error in adopting the term "socialist", perhaps overestimating the intelligence of the electorate.
I imagine he meant in the terms of how socialism is practiced in Europe, where most countries are healthier, better educated, and safer, and where loathsome discrepancies in wealth and for-profit human suffering are less of a burden on the society. The email is directed at the uneducated and mentally ill, because the lies and misrepresentations in it are easily refuted if one choses to spend a few minutes researching the facts.
Russia's history of repressive monarchs made it vulnerable to a Marxist revolution, which failed not because of principles, but due to it being usurped by organized crime, something that continues to this day, and should be a cautionary tale for America. In their desperate effort to hold on to power Republicans have abandoned democracy and embraced the worst among us, a path they chose 40 years ago and one that leads to a high, high cliff.
The Russian revolution wasn't principled. It substituted one tyranny for another ~~ even worse. Marxism theorized an "uprising of the proletariat." That's not what happened. It was commandeered from above, as I suggested initially, and from the beginning. Only much much later was it usurped by organized crime. Though in the name of humanity the entire Soviet apparatus could be thought of as criminal, etymologically if not legally.
It is an instructive case if not regarding "socialism."
Whether democracy is operable in the US is debatable. Fortunately our constitution largely is.
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