But, she pretty clearly wants to assure folks that Sanders is not a socialist (as that term was traditionally defined), that he is a Democratic Socialist which "is a very big term, people mean a lot of different things by it." Bernie begins the tape by saying that "Democratic Socialism means that in a democratic, civilized society, the wealthiest people and the largest corporations must pay their fair share of taxes." (Using that definition, just about everyone is a Democratic Socialist. See if you can think of any politician who does not think that everyone should pay their "fair share" of taxes. They just disagree as to what constitutes a fair share.)
Ms. Piven then states that Democratic Socialism means that there should be "democratic control over the main functions of the economy and that could happen in a variety of ways." She then goes on to assure that "he's not proposing to take over anything. He's just proposing to redistribute the concentrated wealth that we have been producing in this society to make sure that everybody, young people have jobs, to make sure that people working have medical leave that they can spend some time with their children, to make sure that they have health care. These are minimal things in rich, industrial countries, everywhere except the United States."
She makes Democratic Socialism sound very much like an extension of the New Deal and Great Society. I agree with everything that she says and I think that most Democrats agree with what she says. So, maybe I'm a Democratic Socialist as she wants to define that term.
But, I am not a Socialist as that term has been traditionally defined. And, neither is Bernie Sanders. 
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