What’s so authentic about Bernie Sanders? [View all]
The commentariat is all atwitter about Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, self-described “democratic socialist,” running for president. The flyaway hair; the Nooh Yawk accent; the blunt talk; he’s so “authentic.”
But I’ve always managed to keep my enthusiasm for Sanders under control. It’s all very well to prattle about the wonders of socialism, to praise Scandinavia’s state-funded child care, and to yammer — yet again — about breaking up the banks in the most capitalist nation on earth. But that’s not authenticity. That’s just bushwa.
Before becoming a representative and a senator, Sanders was the popular mayor of Burlington, Vt., for eight years. So what did he socialize? What privately held entity did he transform to public ownership? Isn’t that the definition of socialism? I put this question to his spokesman, Michael Briggs, who provided a list of accomplishments: affordable housing, a child-care center, a Little League program.
The late Boston Mayor Tom Menino could have made those same claims, and he didn’t run around pretending to be a socialist.
As for breaking up the banks (Sanders filed some dead-on-arrival legislation to this effect last week), the Democratic Party had its shot six years ago and blew it. Barack Obama surged into the White House on the heels of a devastating recession, with a clear mandate for economic change. Instead, his appointees played patty-cake with the banks, as if they were drawing paychecks from George W. Bush. If Democrats really cared about breaking up banks, Elizabeth Warren might be running for president.
More: https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/05/14/what-authentic-about-bernie-sanders/MiNx3PHdEsjzHsJjg62OOO/story.html
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