Sanders distances himself from 2011 editorial on his Senate website praising the American dream in Venezuela
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
As the political situation in Venezuela deteriorates, an editorial endorsed by presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., that praised the socialist country as a place where the "American dream is more apt to be realized" in 2011.
The piece from the Valley News editorial board , which discussed the U.S. jobs and wealth gap, was posted under the "must read" section on Sanders' official Senate website.
"Less remarked, however, is the fact that America's wealth gap is also a race gap," the editorial board wrote. "As the Pew Research Center reported last week, the median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households. Think about that. In 2009, the typical black household had $5,677 in wealth — defined as assets minus debts; the typical Hispanic household had $6,325; the typical white household, by contrast, had $113,149.
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Feel the Bern of Democratic Socialism .....
I didn't think that Bernie knew the backstroke--I figured all of his strokes just took him farther to the left!
Lol .....
Whats going on in Venezuela right now is a real "Doh" moment for the Bern.
Thing is, the Democratic Socialists are likely disgusted that Sanders is out redefining that category of socialism as his policies. Even the DSA organization (which ostensibly is DS but in reality is a political organization that is incrementally pushing social democracy in the interim) have to be concerned by Sanders' 2011 comments. Venezuela engaged in expropriation, authoritarian rule, command-economy, etc. (borrowing from the former USSR) and then (on top of that) went full out statist distributing benefits to the people while effectively killing the economy. There was no attempt to economically empower the people of Venezuela (the core of Democratic Socialism).
Well, I have noted many times that Sanders is odd. His policies are largely social democracy (European style where a capitalist economy funds statist public programs such as healthcare, education) and he oft references the Nordic nations (perfect examples of social democracy). But then to support Venezuela (in 2011) which was doing nothing even remotely similar to the Nordic nations (and other implementations of social democracy such as in the U.K. and France) is a very good sign that Sanders is all over the map. It is as though he supports (as what he calls 'socialism') any action that transfers power from the private sector to the state.
Strange bird. Bernie is a statist who apparently likes to be known as a 'socialist'.
I know few people who have actually; owned a business, maintained a work force/payroll, provided a service to customers that remained profitable, etc, etc, that agree with the concept of Democratic Socialism in private business. 100% labor managed companies is a non starter in most cases.
I can use my business as an example. Most of my staff is skilled blue collar workers. Most are damn good at what they do. What they do is work with their hands in the trades. If left to their own devices, to actually run our business, they would undoubtedly be out of business very quickly. Few have any concept of what it takes to run a business like ours. Just like one of our office staff would be lost trying to do their job, they would be lost trying to run a business.
Now i'm sure there would be exceptions to the rule here but in my experience they would be exceptions only. Most would fail miserably IMO.
Certainly. I cannot imagine any entrepreneur (or even anyone on an executive team) who would find the concepts of Democratic Socialism to be appealing. Given our existing socio-economic/political system with all the integrated infrastructure (e.g. the stock market as a critical element enabling retirement to actually work) there is no way on the planet that our system could just move to Democratic Socialism. I think that is part of the reason why the DSA talk of DS but advocate social democracy (a variant of capitalism).
As a multiple entrepreneur myself, I have a hard time imagining how my businesses could have achieved their successes with workplace democracy. But thinking of an abrupt swap is silly. A change from capitalism to socialism (by that I mean genuine economic freedom / control by the demos) would necessarily be a long evolution. Not only would the culture have to change rather significantly (people would have to be much more aware and engaged) but the infrastructure would have to be profoundly different than what we have today. So it just does not make any sense trying to envision our own experiences 'under socialism'.
So socialism (even the Democratic Socialism variant) is not something that is going to happen in our lifetimes (if ever). Instead of worrying about it, I recommend people get educated on what socialism is. So many people tossing the word around with so many meanings. It is just ridiculous to observe the nonsense. People are concerned that 'socialism' is going to come to the USA instead of focusing their attention of the actual factors that can indeed take place today in the USA such as:
Say what? What you smoking Bernie? I want some to smoke while wearing my rose colored glasses!
"Less remarked, however, is the fact that America's wealth gap is also a race gap,"
"The fundamental difference between equal treatment and equal performance is repeatedly confused. In performance terms, virtually no one is equal to anyone. The same individual is not even equal to himself on different days.".......Thomas Sowell
Venezuela demonstrating how socialist states always end up.
What do people think the odds are..of Bernie actually getting the Democratic nomination?
Much better this time around without Clinton buying the DNC.
I'm just looking forward to Larry Davids "Bern" impressions on SNL again.
Good stuff!