Bernie Sanders Takes You on a Trip to Socialism’s Wonderland

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Bernie Sanders regurgitated his own Socialist manifesto this past week to give it new life. The free stuff is tantalizing and irresistible to some. The biggest problem is he wants to redistribute everyone’s wealth without regard for how that will affect the nation’s wealth in the end. It’s also true that it’s stealing.

Sanders claims he’s a Democratic Socialist, but there is no ‘democratic’ in socialism. Democratic only means you get to vote in your rulers. Judging from history, you get to vote once or twice and then your rulers are irrevocably in control.

The socialism Bernie promotes is actually communism. Although he will not admit to that, he has preached communism all his life and has marveled at it in Soviet Russia, Castro’s Cuba, Sandanista’s Nicaragua. He will never say a word against Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela. Bernie never met a dictator he didn’t like.

In any case, the only difference between socialism and communism is five to ten years.

This morning’s Wall Street Journal provides an editorial you might like, “Defining socialism down.” The editors look at the points Sanders forgot to mention.

Mr. Sanders pitches Medicare for All as an income transfer program. Take from “billionaires” like Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and give to everyone else. But there aren’t enough Bezoses to finance government health care for everyone, so Bernie will eventually have to go after the middle class. This did not show up in his Introduction to Socialism lecture.

As striking was his failure even to mention some of the world’s leading exemplars of socialism. Venezuela and Cuba made no appearance. You’d think a candidate pitching “democratic socialism” would at least want to distance himself politically from those socialist failures—if only as self-protection.

The oversight was especially notable because Mr. Sanders went out of his way to label American capitalists like Mr. Bezos (and of course) Donald Trump as “oligarchs” and “authoritarians.” Most of Venezuela’s wealth is generated from petrodollars and skimmed off by President Nicolas Maduro, his cronies and top government brass. Why not condemn them as oligarchs who don’t represent socialism?

Mr. Sanders also left out any comparisons to the Nordic European states, which he has praised in the past. Perhaps this is because his endorsement has caused journalists and others to point out that Sweden isn’t all that socialist anymore. Sweden’s corporate tax rate is 21.4%—close to the U.S. rate of 21% that Mr. Sanders calls an abomination and wants to raise.

Sweden has no inheritance tax, while Mr. Sanders wants the government to tax just about everything you have at death. Or perhaps Mr. Sanders doesn’t want voters to figure out that Sweden, like most European cradle-to-grave welfare states, imposes a 25% VAT that soaks the middle class.

Like other universal government-run health care systems, Sweden rations care. But at least people can utilize private care if they choose. Mr. Sanders recently said there would be no exceptions for Americans to his Medicare for All plan. Sweden also offers universal school vouchers, which may be why its students outperform those in the U.S. Mr. Sanders wants to ban charter schools and force kids into union-run public schools.

Bernie lives in lala land and he invites you to live there too.


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The Placebo Syndrome
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The Placebo Syndrome
4 years ago

Bernie had to work it pretty hard at the socialism is good pep rally. If not for the hand picked crowd of true believers there would have been some eye rolling.
Comradette Kommissarina Cortez will not endorse esteemed party member Bernie and the other pack of communism lite candidates inspired by Barnie Sandlers make him look like just another clone.