Poor 77-year-old Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). The glory days of 2016 running against Hillary Clinton with cheering crowds everywhere he went have drastically changed.
In his second bid for the White House, he has young far-left pups nipping at his heels describing him as the ‘has-been’ old white man. The times have changed and the new mantra from the youthful, starry-eyed ‘new socialists’ is not good for the gruff, fire-breathing leftist.
Forget that that the ‘old man’ announced his candidacy last Tuesday for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination garnering over $6 million in contributions in the first 24 hours. The man who spent his second honeymoon in Russia is doomed by the changing guard of Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and other wild-eyed far-lefters who view Sanders as yesterday’s fossil.
Sanders has been peddling destructive collectivist policies for decades. That includes single-payer health care, punitive taxes and radical climate change agreements. He wants to fundamentally alter American society and impose a socialist agenda on tens of millions of Americans.
His appeal is largely relegated to young adults under the age of 30, many still living in mom and dad’s basement, academics and Northeast elitists trying to be hip. Many of those supporting him have never had a real job, raised children or even paid taxes. To them, socialism is utopia.
But here’s a wake-up call for the ‘compassionate and inclusive’ walking illiterate. Socialism is well-known or its long history of failure around the world. Let’s see what Bernie says:
Sen. Sanders neglects to tell his throng of supporters that socialism historically does not work. Numerous countries around the world have attempted to create societies in which many, most, or all industries are collectively owned and managed by the government. If you like the DMV, you’ll really like Bernie’s new America. It means giving significant power to a centralized authority.
Old Bernie fails to tell you that ‘socialist utopias’ usually turn to violence (see present-day Venezuela) and communism. These governments have caused more death and destruction than any other political or religious ideology in the past century. That includes in modern times, China, Cuba, North Korea, and the Soviet Union.
The Russian honeymooner speaks of the Scandinavian countries as a role model for America. That includes Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. He refers to them as “socialist.” They have some of the world’s largest social welfare programs and high individual tax rates. They pay far higher tax rates, earn less and pay significantly more for housing and basic goods and services.
They do have one thing in common with Bernie’s idea of America; massive multi-trillion-dollar programs raised by taxes on the wealthiest earners. Imposing their tax rates here (70 percent) on income above $10 million would raise, at most, $291 billion over 10 years.
Redistribution of wealth would result in all people being relatively poor.
If we were to divide that wealth among all adults, it would only leave about $63,000 per person. Everyone would be poor by American standards.
But Bernie has been joined by a variety of political figures on the left. It will be interesting to see how they stand up to Donald Trump’s view of a capitalist America when the real figures are exposed to the American electorate. Without the likes of MSNBC and CNN to filter the real news for the voters, it will tumble like a house of cards.
