Bernie Sanders Is The Future Of The Democratic Party
Maybe Bernie-mania! will finally lift the stigma of 'socialism' so we can have an honest debate.
The rise of Bernie Sanders is proving awkward for the Democratic Party, contends Politico in a recent piece about the surprisingly popular socialist presidential candidate.
Well, maybe its not that surprising. And its probably not that awkward. Politico could have just as easily declared: The rise of Bernie Sanders is a completely predictable outcome of the Democratic Partys trajectory. Or, maybe, the rise of Bernie Sanders portends a socialistic future for the Democratic Party.
After all, while the press had fun detailing every rightward lurch of the conservative movement, not only has the socialist surge been a restive force within Democratic Party politics during the Obama Age, its been making tremendous policy progress.
Although we rarely frame politics in these terms, as a philosophical matter, weve often been engaged in a debate that pits the theories of eighteenth-century liberalismthe kind that brought us the constitution and limited governmentagainst ideas first embraced in nineteenth-century Marxism. Is there any doubt the Lefts grassroots is driven by the latter, whether its intuitively or on purpose? Just think about the emotional core (often confused as an intellectual position), the rhetoric, and the focus that propels most ideas liberal toss around about inequality, plutocracy, democracy and role of government in our lives.
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Sanders correctly points out that his positions on higher minimum wage, pay equity, and other state interference in markets enjoy high approval rating with most voters. It is not a radical agenda, he says. In virtually every instance, what Im saying is supported by a significant majority of the American people.
This is almost true.
What is wholly true is that big majorities within the Democratic Party support these policies and they would probably go a lot further if they could. Hillary is lucky there isnt a more compelling and charismatic candidate making a more comprehensive socialistic case to Americans as there was the last time around. The difference between her adopted position and his real one is scope.
Thats not to say Democrats are unadulterated socialists, sitting around and studying communist theorists in their spare time, any more than small-government conservatives are opposed to every state-run program. But today, many prefer policies that would be referred to as socialist anywhere else in the world. And the stigma attached to the word is slowly, and fittingly, disintegrating.
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So the awkwardness surrounding Sanders candidacyone that is supposed to make Hillary seem more reasonableis that he is running with almost indistinguishable philosophical positions from the front-runner.
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Now, of course, Sanders will not win the Democratic Party nomination. Im skeptical hes even as popular as polls claim. Still, hes moved to the ideological center of the Democratic Party without changing at all. So will his ideas. Democrats will not pull back once they get their $10 minimum wage. They will not be content once universal pre-K is passed. They will not be satiated after the next round of unilateral Environmental Protection Agency intrusions into the energy markets are instituted. And liberals will not never concede that health care is now working so we wont need any more government involvement.
Liberals may not believe in controlling the means of production, but many do believe in tightening controls enough through regulatory regimes and laws that they can dictate the outcome in markets they do care about. When the downturn hit us, Americans witnessed an unprecedented array of interventions, producing the weakest recovery in history. When oil prices spiked, and the populist rage against energy companies was reaching a crescendo, a Rasmussen poll found that a plurality of Democrats (37 percent) supported outright nationalization of the oil companies. When the health-care debate was at its most overwrought, a New York Times/CBS News poll found a majority supporting a government-run insurance company.
Today, almost every major liberal interst group supports some sort of enhanced collectivism. The notion that we have inherent rightswithout even mentioning economic freedomare laughed at by Left as if it were some sort of antiquated or alien concoction. Even positions that could be argued on grounds of individual freedom, like gay marriage, are now deteriorating into acts of coercion.
Over at Commentary, Noah Rothman points out the double standard in the medias coverage of Todd Akin and Bernie Sanders. Hes right. The contradictory coverage is, no doubt, in part due to some in the media finding Sanders economic philosophy far more palatable than Akins offensive pseudoscientific mumbo jumbo. But it has to be said that Akins comments were much farther out of the mainstream on the Right than Sanders positions are on the Left. And the efforts to remedy the supposed moral imperfections of capitalism through force has led to more pain and suffering than anything Akin could ever say. Sanders might be treated as an outlier. But really, its more likely hes the future.
