Bernie Sanders sugarcoats socialism
“A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.”
Mary Poppins sang this line in Disney’s eponymous movie. It worked for Julie Andrews, so Sen. Bernie Sanders figured he would try to sell socialism’s bitter medicine with misleading comparisons and by skipping over its costs.
In a speech at George Washington University June 12, Sanders attempted to explain his socialist vision for the country. You’ve got to give him credit: He doesn’t shy away from the socialist label in spite of the fact that a large majority of voters — and most of his primary opponents — cringe at the word.
As all Democratic candidates will be forced to do this year, Sanders distorted or plain-out lied about our booming economy, calling it “fundamentally broken.” Who you gonna believe, Bernie or rising wages and the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years?
Sanders would like us to see him as expanding President Franklin Roosevelt’s depression-era social programs. In the speech, he called Medicare for All an extension of Social Security, a federal job guarantee as extending unemployment insurance, and taking over the country’s energy industry as a logical follow-on to the Tennessee Valley Authority. Huh?
Sanders claimed that, “While [Roosevelt] stood up for the working families of our country, we can never forget that [he] was reviled by the oligarchs of his time, who berated these extremely popular programs as ‘socialism.’”
In fact, much of the country rebelled during the 1937-38 recession, the third worst of the 20th century. Members of his own party blocked any further New Deal legislation. Like Obama, FDR remained personally popular even though a number of his policies were not.
As I’ve explained in a prior column, there’s a big difference between Roosevelt’s social programs in a market economy and real socialism as advocated by Sanders.
For Social Security and unemployment benefits, workers and their employers contribute today toward benefits promised in the future. The key words are “workers” and “contribute.” Only those who work are qualified for promised benefits.
Yet to Sanders, working should be optional. He’s endorsed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal that would provide cash to those who are “unwilling to work.” FDR is probably turning in his grave.
To fund Medicare for All, Sanders tosses out ideas like higher taxes on the rich, higher estate taxes, new business taxes, a net wealth tax and an offshore profits tax. Yet this hit list won’t cover half the program’s $32 trillion, 10 year cost.
So where will the rest come from? The only place to get big money is the middle class, you and me. We’d need to pony up the other half. But to sell his program, in this speech he conveniently ignored the steep middle-class tax increases that would be needed.
In years past, Sanders has praised Russia, Cuba, and Venezuela as positive examples of socialism. None were mentioned in this speech.
To the point, he ignored Venezuela, a socialist paradise he touted several years ago. His website contained the statement, “The American dream is more apt to be realized in South America, in places such as Venezuela.”
Why the praise for Venezuela? Income equality, a perennial socialist objective. Of course, the equality that most Venezuelan citizens are experiencing today is what Winston Churchill called socialism’s “equal sharing of misery.”
Nor did he mention the Scandinavian countries, his favorite examples of socialist success. Why not? Well, they aren’t socialist anymore; they’re market economies with no estate taxes and corporate income taxes about equal to our new tax rates.
Like all countries with government-run health care, Sweden rations medical services. People overuse “free stuff,” so it has no other choice. But in stark contrast to Sander’s Medicare for All, Swedes are allowed to use private medical services if they choose.
Sanders also avoided the fact that Sweden issues universal school vouchers allowing parents to enroll their children in the school of their choice. In Sanders’ socialist nirvana, teachers unions would run the schools for you-know-whose benefit.
How do Scandinavian countries do it? They impose value-added taxes — essentially sales taxes — of about 25 percent on all goods and services. Sales taxes can’t be avoided and are paid primarily by the middle class.
As he usually does, Sanders dissembled, knowing full well that he’ll never succeed if voters realize what his socialist utopia would cost them.
Bernie will keep trying, but it will take a lot more than a spoonful of sugar to get voters to swallow socialism’s heavy dose of castor oil.
The viewpoints expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Independent.
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