Bernie Sanders explains democratic socialism

Bernie Sanders explains democratic socialism November 20, 2015

Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders gave his much-anticipated speech in which he explained his ideology of “democratic socialism.”  He said that he doesn’t want the state to own the means of production (the classic definition of socialism).  Rather, he wants to emulate Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  Sanders said that virtually all of the New Deal programs we take for granted today–Social Security, the minimum wage, banking regulations, and job programs–were condemned as “socialist.”  Surveying today’s problems, Sanders wants to bring back Roosevelt’s “Second Bill of Rights,” focusing on economic rights.

At the time, when critics accused FDR’s programs and later Democratic initiatives as socialist, the Democratic answer was, “no, they are not!”  Sanders agrees with the conservatives in saying, “yes, they are.”  But at least Sanders embraces the term.

After the jump, read his explanation of democratic socialism.  What do you think of what he says?  If you disagree with his ideology, how would you answer him?

From Read Bernie Sanders’s speech on democratic socialism in the United States – Vox:

In his inaugural remarks in January 1937, in the midst of the Great Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt looked out at the nation and this is what he saw.

He saw tens of millions of its citizens denied the basic necessities of life.

He saw millions of families trying to live on incomes so meager that the pall of family disaster hung over them day by day.

He saw millions denied education, recreation, and the opportunity to better their lot and the lot of their children.

He saw millions lacking the means to buy the products they needed and by their poverty and lack of disposable income denying employment to many other millions.

He saw one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.

And he acted. Against the ferocious opposition of the ruling class of his day, people he called economic royalists, Roosevelt implemented a series of programs that put millions of people back to work, took them out of poverty and restored their faith in government. He redefined the relationship of the federal government to the people of our country. He combatted cynicism, fear and despair. He reinvigorated democracy. He transformed the country.

And that is what we have to do today.

And, by the way, almost everything he proposed was called “socialist.” Social Security, which transformed life for the elderly in this country was “socialist.” The concept of the “minimum wage” was seen as a radical intrusion into the marketplace and was described as “socialist.” Unemployment insurance, abolishing child labor, the 40-hour work week, collective bargaining, strong banking regulations, deposit insurance, and job programs that put millions of people to work were all described, in one way or another, as “socialist.” Yet, these programs have become the fabric of our nation and the foundation of the middle class.

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