Why Bernie calls himself a socialist

[aociswundumho]

For a very long time Bernie called himself a socialist. Then he changed it to "democratic" socialist. He did so in order to differentiate his brand of socialism from the way socialism always ends up - a totalitarian s**t hole. Prepending the word "democratic" to the word socialism is a classic case of putting lipstick on a pig. A command economy implies a commander. Doesn't matter one bit whether the government was voted in or not. The country will still end up in the toilet.

Defenders of Bernie state that he's really just a social democrat. They say he has no desire for a command economy or for nationalization. They state that Bernie never says he wants socialism, only some welfare programs. Yet they will often admit being puzzled as to why he stills calls himself a democratic socialist considering the heavy political baggage the term carries.

I'd like you to watch a very short video of a man who was voted into power. Notice how gentle and sincere he sounds. He talks about democracy, the media, and at the 1:10 mark, he is asked if he has any intention of nationalizing anything, and he responds, "No, nothing at all".




That's what he said he would do, but here's what he did after he got into power:

Venezuela's nationalizations under Chavez

I would post them all here, but the list of his nationalizations is too long.

In 1998 people were right to be afraid of him. But once he got into power it was too late. It only took one generation for socialism to destroy Venezuela.

To answer the question in the title, the reason Bernie calls himself a socialist, is because that's what he is and that's what he believes in. Bernie lies about what he really wants for same reason Chavez lied - if they told the truth they'd never get elected.

If Bernie wins the presidency, he will issue executive order after executive order and plunge the country into turmoil, as he attempts to "totally transform the society". As things go south, and they most certainly will, he will blame the rich, the billionaires, the capitalists, just like every single commie who has ever gotten into power has done in the past.

I could be wrong. But what if I'm right? Is the false promise of free goodies really worth the risk?

 

[ttwtt78640]

As more industries are converted to being owned "by the people" (but run by the government), the (socialist) government will soon find that not enough of a privately owned tax base remains to keep them afloat.

 

[mrjurrs]

For a very long time Bernie called himself a socialist. Then he changed it to "democratic" socialist. He did so in order to differentiate his brand of socialism from the way socialism always ends up - a totalitarian s**t hole. Prepending the word "democratic" to the word socialism is a classic case of putting lipstick on a pig. A command economy implies a commander. Doesn't matter one bit whether the government was voted in or not. The country will still end up in the toilet.

Defenders of Bernie state that he's really just a social democrat. They say he has no desire for a command economy or for nationalization. They state that Bernie never says he wants socialism, only some welfare programs. Yet they will often admit being puzzled as to why he stills calls himself a democratic socialist considering the heavy political baggage the term carries.

I'd like you to watch a very short video of a man who was voted into power. Notice how gentle and sincere he sounds. He talks about democracy, the media, and at the 1:10 mark, he is asked if he has any intention of nationalizing anything, and he responds, "No, nothing at all".




That's what he said he would do, but here's what he did after he got into power:

Venezuela's nationalizations under Chavez

I would post them all here, but the list of his nationalizations is too long.

In 1998 people were right to be afraid of him. But once he got into power it was too late. It only took one generation for socialism to destroy Venezuela.

To answer the question in the title, the reason Bernie calls himself a socialist, is because that's what he is and that's what he believes in. Bernie lies about what he really wants for same reason Chavez lied - if they told the truth they'd never get elected.

If Bernie wins the presidency, he will issue executive order after executive order and plunge the country into turmoil, as he attempts to "totally transform the society". As things go south, and they most certainly will, he will blame the rich, the billionaires, the capitalists, just like every single commie who has ever gotten into power has done in the past.

I could be wrong. But what if I'm right? Is the false promise of free goodies really worth the risk?

Yes, those noted Scandinavian totalitarian regimes worry me...

 

[swing_voter]

Hugo Chavez led a military coup against the Venezuelan government and failed.

After he got out of jail, he noticed that there were a lot of poor people in Venezuela who the rich treated like crap. So Chavez decided to pick the ballot box over the gun and appeal to these poor people. The poor elected Chavez.

And now in Venezuela a dozen eggs cost $150 American dollars.

 

[Helix]

Yes, those noted Scandinavian totalitarian regimes worry me...

he'd probably be a "so what" lukewarm centrist in most of the rest of the first world. in the US, however, a proposal not to bankrupt sick people makes you a commie or something. i remember when the Birchers were only a fringe group.

 

[ecofarm]

Sorry, can't take political swill from a racist and sexist username.

 

[ttwtt78640]

Yes, those noted Scandinavian totalitarian regimes worry me...

All of that "free" stuff is not really free. The difference between gross income and disposable (after tax) income must be considered.

Median income - Wikipedia

 

[EMNofSeattle]

Yes, those noted Scandinavian totalitarian regimes worry me...

Bernie Sanders is not in favor of a single piece of economic policy from Scandinavia

 

[RaleBulgarian]

For a very long time Bernie called himself a socialist. Then he changed it to "democratic" socialist.

Over his decades in public life, Sanders has, from time to time, referred to himself as a Socialist as shorthand to set himself apart from traditional Democrats, but has officially identified himself as a “Democratic Socialist” all along.

 

[Lisa]

For a very long time Bernie called himself a socialist. Then he changed it to "democratic" socialist. He did so in order to differentiate his brand of socialism from the way socialism always ends up - a totalitarian s**t hole. Prepending the word "democratic" to the word socialism is a classic case of putting lipstick on a pig. A command economy implies a commander. Doesn't matter one bit whether the government was voted in or not. The country will still end up in the toilet.

Defenders of Bernie state that he's really just a social democrat. They say he has no desire for a command economy or for nationalization. They state that Bernie never says he wants socialism, only some welfare programs. Yet they will often admit being puzzled as to why he stills calls himself a democratic socialist considering the heavy political baggage the term carries.

I'd like you to watch a very short video of a man who was voted into power. Notice how gentle and sincere he sounds. He talks about democracy, the media, and at the 1:10 mark, he is asked if he has any intention of nationalizing anything, and he responds, "No, nothing at all".




That's what he said he would do, but here's what he did after he got into power:

Venezuela's nationalizations under Chavez

I would post them all here, but the list of his nationalizations is too long.

In 1998 people were right to be afraid of him. But once he got into power it was too late. It only took one generation for socialism to destroy Venezuela.

To answer the question in the title, the reason Bernie calls himself a socialist, is because that's what he is and that's what he believes in. Bernie lies about what he really wants for same reason Chavez lied - if they told the truth they'd never get elected.

If Bernie wins the presidency, he will issue executive order after executive order and plunge the country into turmoil, as he attempts to "totally transform the society". As things go south, and they most certainly will, he will blame the rich, the billionaires, the capitalists, just like every single commie who has ever gotten into power has done in the past.

I could be wrong. But what if I'm right? Is the false promise of free goodies really worth the risk?

Bernie uses the term Social democrat because technically that is the correct term, despite the fact that ignorants in the US equal socialist with Ebola and HIV. Most of those same people wouldn't pass a 20 question political science quiz, even if you spotted them 15 of the 20 questions. Socialism is only scary if you have feed fed a diet of bupkis' from conservative sources and can't think your way through their very obvious and self-serving lies. Socialist by itself isn't a problem. It is ignorance and authoritarian governments.

I'm a mixed market socialist and a civil libertarian and I doubt that more than a handful can accurately describe my political/economic stance.

 

[Logical1]

Why dont he just admit he is a commie? Everyone knows he is!!!!!!

 

[Lisa]

Bernie Sanders is not in favor of a single piece of economic policy from Scandinavia

Chritians are supposed to tell the truth or do you have a dispensation?

His platform begs to differe.

Single-payer healthcare

Living wage

Paid family leave

expanded public education from K-12 to now include college because a high school education isn't sufficient for a good job in the 21st century.

Support for unions and worker-owned companies.

Bernie Sanders on the issues

 

[Lisa]

Why dont he just admit he is a commie? Everyone knows he is!!!!!!

Do you know the differences between communism and socialism?

 

[eohrnberger]

Why Bernie calls himself a socialist?

Because he knows that if he called himself what he really is, a life long communist, he wouldn't be able to fool enough people to vote for him. Bernie is in fact a long communist, through his history he's praised Communist / Socialist dictators saving his denunciations for the US.

As it is he missuses the commonly accepted definition of 'Democrat Socialist' to mean whatever he wants it to mean, furthering his deception, and gaining votes from the history illiterate.

How do we know this?

Those nations who Bernie claims are 'Democratic Socialist' nations don't define themselves that way (see Sweden, Denmark and the other Nordic 'Socialist' nations). They should know themselves better than anyone else, including Bernie, and they call themselves capitalistic nations with a large and generous welfare state, yet Bernie wrongly claims they are 'Democratic Socialist' nations, so 'Democrat Socialist' to mean whatever he wants it to mean.

Further, Socialism and it's big brother Communism (as the difference is only a matter of degree), both have the characteristics of the State owning, or heavily controlling / heavily regulating, the means of production, and Bernie is no different here. Only recently he's called for national rent control and government takeover (heavily controlling / heavily regulating) of both the healthcare and health insurance industries. Most notably, rent control has shown itself to worsen the problem of affordable housing rather than bettering it. Much the same for government control of healthcare and health insurance industries.

So when Bernie is falsely calling himself a 'Democratic Socialist' he's just fooling you into believing what he wants you to believe, more palatable than the life long Communist he is, so you'll vote for him.

 

[Mr Person]

Calls himself "aociswundumho", expects to be taken seriously.

 

[Mr Person]

Why Bernie calls himself a socialist?

Because he knows that if he called himself what he really is, a life long communist, he wouldn't be able to fool enough people to vote for him. Bernie is in fact a long communist, through his history he's praised Communist / Socialist dictators saving his denunciations for the US.

I'm stopping there because I know who you are and because that's too much stupid in the opening gambit.

Socialism: economic system where the government owns the means of production. The more means of production government must nationalize, the more authoritarian the government generally is.

Communism: economic system where the means of production are owned by the workers. Because of the glorious awesomeness of this situation, the need for government is supposed to dissolve.





Democratic socialism: only certain public goods are either paid for by the government or the government also owns the means of their production.

So tell me, in which speech did Sanders suggest the U.S. government nationalize the means of production and insist that this will be so great the need for the U.S. government dissolves?

 

[eohrnberger]

I'm stopping there because I know who you are and because that's too much stupid in the opening gambit.

Socialism: economic system where the government owns the means of production. The more means of production government must nationalize, the more authoritarian the government generally is.

Communism: economic system where the means of production are owned by the workers. Because of the glorious awesomeness of this situation, the need for government is supposed to dissolve.

Only problem is that as history shows a Communist regime never evolves beyond the totalitarian state to 'the glorious awesomeness' situation.

Democratic socialism: only certain public goods are either paid for by the government or the government also owns the means of their production.

So tell me, in which speech did Sanders suggest the U.S. government nationalize the means of production and insist that this will be so great the need for the U.S. government dissolves?

From Bernie's own web site:

berniesanders.com › issues › housing-all
Protect tenants by implementing a national rent control standard, a “just-cause” requirement for evictions, and ensuring the right to counsel in housing disputes.​

As has been shown in real life, rent control doesn't facilitate meeting the housing demand, it thwarts the free market in meeting the demand for affordable housing, by taking the profit motive from developers creating that affordable, so rent control = less affordable housing. As we can see from those who actually know much more than Bernie on how this works:

Bernie Sanders' national-rent-control idea won't work ...
[url]www.businessinsider.com › bernie-sanders-national-rent-control-2019...[/URL]
Nov 3, 2019 - Sen. Bernie Sanders has called for "national rent control" as part of his campaign for president, but the policy is a bad one.

The Folly Of Bernie Sanders' National Rent Control Proposal ...
[url]www.cato.org › blog › folly-bernie-sanders-national-rent-control-pro...[/URL]
Jan 27, 2020 - “We need…a national rent control standard.” Now, his presidential campaign advocates one: under Sanders' housing proposals, all landlords ...


Bernie's National Rent Control - WSJ
[url]www.wsj.com › Opinion › Review & Outlook[/URL]
Sep 29, 2019 - Bernie Sanders this month unveiled a $2.5 trillion housing agenda, but the price tag isn't the only shocker. “Under my plan,” he told union ...
​

Again, quite recently public statements made by Bernie:

www.politico.com › news › 2020/02/02 › bernie-sanders-climate-fede...
Feb 2, 2020 - Sen. Bernie Sanders has put nationalizing health insurance at the center of his presidential campaign, but his proposal to fight climate change ...
​

From Bernie's own web site:

High-Speed Internet for All - Bernie Sanders
berniesanders.com › issues › high-speed-internet-all
When Bernie is president, every American household will have affordable, high-speed internet by the end of his first term. ... Require that all internet service providers offer a Basic Internet Plan that provides quality broadband speeds at an affordable price. Break up internet ...​

Heavy regulation / control, forcing businesses to offer something that's probably not economically sound, let them go bacnkrupt, and them taken them over via a 'bailout' (purchase), is the most likely scenario.

Bernie Sanders's radical plan to nationalize the internet
[url]www.washingtonexaminer.com › opinion › bernie-sanderss-radical-pl...[/URL]
Dec 11, 2019 - Bernie Sanders isn't exactly shy about his socialist ambitions. But even by the Vermont senator's far-left standards, his latest proposal is a ...

Bernie Sanders' $150B plan to make the internet a utility ...
[url]www.businessinsider.com › bernie-sanders-internet-as-utility-plan-exp...[/URL]
Jan 22, 2020 - Bernie Sanders, a Democratic presidential candidate, has a $150 billion four-point plan that would fundamentally transform how the internet works in the United States. ... "High-speed internet service must be treated as the new electricity," the proposal says, "a public utility that ...
​

Each of these instances was covered in the media, why don't you know about it?

 

[eohrnberger]

. . .

(2 of 2 due to size constraints)

This is hardly any new positions that Bernie's adopted / purported. He has a long history in this sort of government takeover of private industry.

www.cnn.com › 2019/03/14 › politics › kfile-bernie-nationalization
Mar 14, 2019 - Bernie Sanders advocated for the nationalization of most major industries, including energy companies, factories, and banks, when he was a ...

Bernie Sanders in 1970s pushed for nationalization of major ...
[url]www.businessinsider.com › bernie-sanders-in-1970s-pushed-for-natio...[/URL]
Mar 15, 2019 - "I favor the public ownership of utilities, banks and major industries," Sanders said in an interview with The Burlington Free Press in 1976.

Bernie Sanders wants to nationalize at least 30% of the ...
[url]www.washingtonexaminer.com › opinion › bernie-sanders-wants-to-n...[/URL]
Aug 23, 2019 - In the ideal America outlined by 2020 hopeful Bernie Sanders, the majority of the economy would be centralized and socialized.
​

Lastly, Bernie support AOC's New Green Deal, which would completely remake the entire US economy which has shown itself to be the most robust, durable and successful, affording all a standard of living that dwarfs the majority of the rest of the world, for some unproven Socialist nonsense based on ideology which has shown itself to be, time and again through history, as an abject failure.

Sometimes a leopard doesn't change it's spots and a tiger doesn't change it's strips.

Bernie's a life long Communist. All he wants is totalitarian levels of government control, much like the Socialist and Communist dictators and tyrants for whom he has only kinds words and diversions from their abhorrent abuses of their people, their people's liberties, and their people's freedoms.

 

[Acadia]

Yes, those noted Scandinavian totalitarian regimes worry me...

Really? Their not socialist, market-based economies don't worry me at all.
Pretending they are socialist countries to dupe Americans into thinking socialism brings utopia does.

 

[Good4Nothin]

Socialist by itself isn't a problem. It is ignorance and authoritarian governments.

Yeah, socialism would be wonderful if only those authoritarian governments didn't take over every time. Those darn authoritarian governments, always ruining socialism. Think how wonderful the world could be if everyone loved everyone and no one had any money, and the government took care of all of us.

 

[Good4Nothin]

Do you know the differences between communism and socialism?

No one does.

 

[Good4Nothin]

Why Bernie calls himself a socialist?

Because he knows that if he called himself what he really is, a life long communist, he wouldn't be able to fool enough people to vote for him. Bernie is in fact a long communist, through his history he's praised Communist / Socialist dictators saving his denunciations for the US.

As it is he missuses the commonly accepted definition of 'Democrat Socialist' to mean whatever he wants it to mean, furthering his deception, and gaining votes from the history illiterate.

How do we know this?

Those nations who Bernie claims are 'Democratic Socialist' nations don't define themselves that way (see Sweden, Denmark and the other Nordic 'Socialist' nations). They should know themselves better than anyone else, including Bernie, and they call themselves capitalistic nations with a large and generous welfare state, yet Bernie wrongly claims they are 'Democratic Socialist' nations, so 'Democrat Socialist' to mean whatever he wants it to mean.

Further, Socialism and it's big brother Communism (as the difference is only a matter of degree), both have the characteristics of the State owning, or heavily controlling / heavily regulating, the means of production, and Bernie is no different here. Only recently he's called for national rent control and government takeover (heavily controlling / heavily regulating) of both the healthcare and health insurance industries. Most notably, rent control has shown itself to worsen the problem of affordable housing rather than bettering it. Much the same for government control of healthcare and health insurance industries.

So when Bernie is falsely calling himself a 'Democratic Socialist' he's just fooling you into believing what he wants you to believe, more palatable than the life long Communist he is, so you'll vote for him.

Bernie plays games with the word "socialist." He doesn't seem to know the history of socialism. And he doesn't seem to know much about economics. As you said, rent control is known to be worse than useless.

And Bernie wants to make sure illegal immigrants are paid minimum wage. That actually would be a clever way of ending illegal immigration -- no one would hire them for minimum wage. But I doubt Bernie thought about it that deeply.

 

[Evilroddy]

The American public has been conditioned for about 75 years to recoil from the word socialist. It a rejection based solely on irrational fear, rather than reason. The US has many socialist programmes and institutions. Public Education, Medicare for seniors, medicine for veterans, public police and fire departments are but four examples. You've even socialised your military arms and munitions industries which are almost completely dependent on the US state for buying that sector's products and for selling those products abroad to other states.

Sen. Sanders was just being honest about his political position. But now his handlers have convinced him to rebrand himself as a social democrat or a democratic socialist. That's all that's happening here. It's not some sinister Marxist/communist plot to wreck America.

From the snow-blown gulag of North American socialism.

Cheers.
Evilroddy.

 

[Good4Nothin]

I'm stopping there because I know who you are and because that's too much stupid in the opening gambit.

Socialism: economic system where the government owns the means of production. The more means of production government must nationalize, the more authoritarian the government generally is.

Communism: economic system where the means of production are owned by the workers. Because of the glorious awesomeness of this situation, the need for government is supposed to dissolve.





Democratic socialism: only certain public goods are either paid for by the government or the government also owns the means of their production.

So tell me, in which speech did Sanders suggest the U.S. government nationalize the means of production and insist that this will be so great the need for the U.S. government dissolves?

Sanders calls himself a socialist. He believes in increasing the central government's control over the economic system. In democratic socialism, the idea is that socialism will be arrived at gradually, rather than suddenly through a violent revolution.

 

[Good4Nothin]

Only problem is that as history shows a Communist regime never evolves beyond the totalitarian state to 'the glorious awesomeness' situation.

Of course it doesn't. Why would it? Just because Marx had a fantasy? People took his fantasy seriously -- what is wrong with human nature?