Democratic Socialist. This is what Bernie Sanders calls himself. Can a Democratic Socialist even exist?
Democratic: pertaining to or of the nature of democracy; advocating or upholding democracy.
Democracy: government of, for and by the people; state of society characterized by formal equality of rights and privileges and opportunity either exercised by the people of through their elected representatives through a free electoral system.
Socialist: an advocate or supporter of socialism.
Socialism: government of, for and by political elites who control the means of production and capital distribution; rights and privileges and opportunity defined by the political elite in power at any given time retained in office by an appointed oligarchy.
It appears that Democratic Socialist is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. Bernie Sanders is not a Democratic Socialist he is just a Socialist in the truest sense of the term. This will be borne out through a review of his policies.
Income and Wealth Inequality: Sanders demands that wealthy and large corporations pay their “fair share” in taxes. “Fair share” is left undefined. He proposes to increase the death tax on the top 0.3 percent of Americans.
Sanders will enact a tax on Wall Street but only Congress can do it. He proposes to invest $1 trillion over five years to put 13 million American to work repairing our infrastructure but where does he get the money?
Sanders will make all colleges and universities tuition free but he fails to tells anyone where he will get the money. He will raise the social security tax on wages. He will create a single payer health care system like the Veterans’ Administration health care system, which is a failed system responsible for the deaths of many veterans.
He will require employers to provide 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave, two week of vacation, and seven days of sick leave even if the employer is unable to pay for these so-called benefits.
Sanders will enact a universal childcare and prekindergarten program but he fails to mention where he will get the money or who will pay for it. Sanders also wants to break up the big banks.
Notice that everything he wants to do with regard to so-called wealth and inequality is not characterized by formal equality of rights and privileges and opportunity either exercised by the people of through their elected representatives through a free electoral system.
Sanders is himself the political elite who would control the means of production and capital distribution. He would control rights and privileges and opportunity defined by the political elite. And note: what the political elite can give the political elite can take away. Just look at Venezuela.
Bernie Sanders’ expansion of Medicare for all is projected to cost $1.4 trillion annually. To pay for it, Sanders is proposing the largest tax increase in modern history. Then Sanders asserts that 95% of Americans will actually end up keeping more of their income because they won’t have to pay for premiums, deductibles and copays. The math does not add up.
Overall, Bernie Sanders has proposed a $15.3 trillion tax increase over the next decade. Sanders’ tax proposal means that in 2017, average U.S. households would face an average tax increase of $9,000 (Tax Policy Center, Urban Institute and Brookings Institution).
In a radio broadcast prior to the British general election of 1945, Winston Churchill said this about socialism: “…A socialist policy is abhorrent to the British ideas of freedom. Socialism is inseparably interwoven with totalitarianism and…worship of the state. It will prescribe for everyone where they are to work, what they are to work at, where they may go and what they may say. Socialism is an attack on the right to breathe freely.” (From Friedrich Hayek: A Biography by Alan O. Ebenstein, University of Chicago Press: 2003).
Writing for the Library of Economics and Liberty, Robert Heilbroner, a socialist for most his life before seeing the light, describes socialism as “…the tragic failure of the twentieth century.” Originally envisioned as a remedy for the perceived defects of capitalism, socialism has failed dismally everywhere it has been tried. Writing about socialism’s history of failure, Helibroner says: “…it has far surpassed capitalism in both economic malfunction and moral cruelty. Yet the idea and the ideal of socialism linger on. Whether socialism in some form will eventually return as a major organizing force in human affairs is unknown, but no one can accurately appraise its prospects who has not taken into account the dramatic story of its rise and fall” (David L. Goetsch, “How Do You Define Socialism,” Patriot Update).