Woman to Bernie Sanders: My Family Fled Soviet Russia, Socialism Has Failed In Nearly Every Country reports on a townhall meeting with Sanders.
A woman asks Sanders: "Hi, Senator Sanders. So my father's family left Soviet Russia in 1979 fleeing from some of the very same socialist policies that you seem eager to implement in this country. So my question is, how do you rectify your notion of democratic socialism with the failures of socialism in nearly every country that has tried it?"
Sanders, after hemming and hawing, answers: "What do I mean when I talk about democratic socialism? It certainly is not the authoritarian communism that existed in the Soviet Union and in other communist countries. This is what it means."
Well, actually, he answered what he believes it is not. So what is it?
I doubt anyone would disagree that the Constitution, in its Bill of Rights, protects the rights of the people. Note, however, how Sanders, and FDR before him, expand that into the government guaranteeing economic rights. How it changes the rights of the people to pursue happiness responsibly into the government guaranteeing it will give you that happiness.It means that we cherish, among other things, our Bill of Rights. And Franklin Roosevelt made this point -- Chris, I don't know if you remember -- read about it, in 1944, in a State of the Union Address that never got a whole lot of attention, this is what he said basically. It was a very profound speech toward the end of World War II.
He said, you know, we've got a great Constitution. Bill of Rights protects your freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, and all that stuff, great, but you know what it doesn't protect? It doesn't protect and guarantee your economic rights.
As an example, he says "I believe in a democratic, civilized society, health care is a human right. Government should make that happen."
Cuomo reminds him, "You used to argue that you should have government control the means of capitalism, energy companies...."
Marx didn't call that "authoritarian communism" but the dictatorship of the proletariat that would transition to communism free of government, society, and scarcity, in short, authoritarian socialism.