- Joined
- Jan 25, 2008
- Messages
- 41,552
- Reaction score
- 31,149
- Location
- Southern England
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Slightly Liberal
He speaks a lot of sense. And he's making socialism almost popular again. He's not going to win the nomination, the cash is stacked against him, but the ideas are spreading.
"After months of expectation, US senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has at last given what might be remembered as one of the landmark speeches of the 2016 election: an explanation and defence of his position as a “democratic socialist”.
Linking his beliefs to revered figures from US history such as Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Martin Luther King Jr, he attempted to show that socialism was not just a “route to economic fairness” but also “essential to American values”.
Perhaps most importantly, it provided Sanders with another opportunity to present his socialist ideas to a national audience, something that was once almost unthinkable in modern US politics.
Long demonised in American electoral politics, “socialism" seems to be resonating with many Americans upset by the country’s deepening economic inequality and insecurity – and it has the potential to expand the limits American democracy.
Sanders has surprised the political establishment by becoming a serious nominee for president. Most assumed that a socialist was simply “unelectable”. Even left leaning politicians who share his views, like Democratic congressman Alcee Hastings lament:
"No matter how well you think of Bernie – and all of us do … when the politics of it all hits the road, I don’t feel – and I feel most members don’t feel – that he can be elected."... "
Socialism is not a dirty word: Bernie Sanders - US Democracy
"After months of expectation, US senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has at last given what might be remembered as one of the landmark speeches of the 2016 election: an explanation and defence of his position as a “democratic socialist”.
Linking his beliefs to revered figures from US history such as Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Martin Luther King Jr, he attempted to show that socialism was not just a “route to economic fairness” but also “essential to American values”.
Perhaps most importantly, it provided Sanders with another opportunity to present his socialist ideas to a national audience, something that was once almost unthinkable in modern US politics.
Long demonised in American electoral politics, “socialism" seems to be resonating with many Americans upset by the country’s deepening economic inequality and insecurity – and it has the potential to expand the limits American democracy.
Sanders has surprised the political establishment by becoming a serious nominee for president. Most assumed that a socialist was simply “unelectable”. Even left leaning politicians who share his views, like Democratic congressman Alcee Hastings lament:
"No matter how well you think of Bernie – and all of us do … when the politics of it all hits the road, I don’t feel – and I feel most members don’t feel – that he can be elected."... "
Socialism is not a dirty word: Bernie Sanders - US Democracy