“If You Believe That Bernie Should Be the Nominee, You Don’t Believe In Democracy”

[Koinos]

6. Authoritarianism versus Democracy

Both Sanders and Trump are authoritarians, who do not respect majority rule. Trump wants to be a "boss," and Sanders wants to accomplish everything with executive power and use protests and bullying to get Congress to go along. Sanders has no confidence even in a Democratic Congress, since he deems the Democratic party to be corrupt and "moribund." So he expects to function as a "lone ranger" with millions of angry disciples to apply pressure to corporatist politicians. I doubt that he would have the patience to go the slow route of getting like-minded "democratic socialists" elected. Moreover, like his followers, he has little confidence in voters, the majority of whom appear to him to be ill-informed and uneducated in the enlightened values of his purist ideology. In his view, the many ignorant have to be forced to believe and do what is right by the enlightened few. Of course, rule by an enlightened few directly contradicts the genuine meaning of democracy. With democracy, people don't take orders from a minority. They work together, despite their differences, with dialogue and mutual respect, to arrive at goals that further the well-being of all; and they employ methods which do not encroach on the rights of minorities. In a democracy, the will of the majority is decisive; but the Bill of Rights and other safeguards serve to limit the potential overreach of the majority.