These People Could Be President. Part Three: ‘Red’ Bernie

Calling a politician ‘red’ is often a smear, an attempt to muddy the boundary between well-meaning lefty and full on commie crank. But in Bernie Sanders’s case the descriptor is accurate. He openly calls himself a ‘Democratic Socialist’ – a euphemistic phrase in current vogue that slyly reconciles the irreconcilable. A truly socialist state can never allow the propertied classes political representation.  Bernie’s commie cred goes much deeper than this. He first started in politics running for the Senate representing the ‘Liberty Union Party of Vermont’ on a platform demanding ‘non-violent revolutionary socialism’ – a phrase which makes about as much sense as ‘non-alcoholic vodka’. Something even a cursory reading of history teaches is that the only non-violent revolutions are Conservative, for example those in Eastern Europe in 1989 against Communism. Those of the Left variety are inevitably bloody.

Over the years Bernie has done something unusual for a politician – he’s said what he really thinks. He’s called the type of bread lines typical in communist countries ‘a good thing’ because it’s a sign the poor aren’t starving to death (who says they aren’t? maybe they don’t have enough energy to get out of the gutter and form an orderly queue). In a 1985 interview he called for public ownership of ‘factories’ – basically reciting page 2 of the Communist Manifesto.

When the Nicaraguan government invited him to come and celebrate the anniversary of the successful coup by the Leftist Sandinistas, he went. At the height of the Cold War, when the Soviet Union invited him to come on an all-expenses paid trip, he went and took his wife. They were newly married at the time, so yes he honeymooned in the USSR – how more ‘red’ can you get?

Bernie is a conviction politician. Unlike many of his colleagues, he’s not a moocher, a grifter or an opportunist. It’s just that his convictions are wrong. He really believes in a socialist paradise of milk and honey and free unicorn rides for all. His current platform includes a promise of universal health care that would raise federal spending by 32.6 trillion over 10 years.

I feel a little sorry for Bernie. On current polling, he is well behind the other main contenders. He’s a man who missed his time. That time was the 2016 election. He was denied a shot at the title as presidential nominee thanks to a Clinton mafia stitch up that should have made the ‘Democratic Party’ embarrassed to keep using that name.

But I don’t feel sorry for him enough to actually want him to win. Bernie Sanders as President would be a disaster for two reasons. A socialist President of a country founded on principles diametrically opposed to socialism could well lead to a civil war. Also, no one called ‘Bernie’ can ever be allowed to be President. ‘Bernie’ is the guy who works at the auto-parts store not the leader of the free world. It would be like having someone called ‘Smitty’ or ‘Phil’ in the White house.

The nation would never recover.