Sanders’ Faithful Are Unaware Free Stuff Leads To Tyranny

Democratic Party Should Change Name to Socialist Party

bernie sanders

El problema del establishment demócrata con Sanders no es que sea socialista, sino que lo afirme. (DonkeyHotey)

Lea en español.

This article first appeared in the Daily Caller

Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ impressive victory in Nevada’s Democratic Party caucus gives the self-declared socialist significant momentum for the nomination. The Democrat establishment’s problem with Sanders is not that he is a socialist but that he affirms it.

​As the Democrat presidential contenders again showed Tuesday in their Charleston, South Carolina, debate, the “moderate” Democrat has become a fiction. In Nevada’s seven-person race, Bernie won nearly half the votes — more than double the tally for Joe Biden, the runner-up. The Democratic Party has become socialist.

In an interview on 60 Minutes, Sanders was asked whether Democrats have moved closer to him. He responded, “In many ways, they have, and the ideas that seemed radical four years ago are now kind of mainstream.”

That is true, and it is terrifying.

Contrary to Democrat spin, present-day socialism does not require the state to take possession of private property. Through regulation, today’s large, intrusive centralized government can render property useless to its owner. All Democrat candidates, including Michael Bloomberg, as his New York City record shows, favor an intrusive government.

Complaining about the “grotesque level of wealth and income-distribution inequality,” Sanders told Bloomberg in the Nevada Democratic debate: “It wasn’t you who made all that money … it’s important [workers] share the benefits.” When Bloomberg identified that as communism, an enraged Sanders shouted it’s “democratic socialism … that’s a cheap shot.”

Communism, socialism and democratic socialism are collectivist. They share the premise that income inequality is unfair, and that the government must reverse it. Health care and education are rights the government must provide at no charge, which requires a massive redistribution of wealth.

​By contrast, our society is based on natural rights — life, liberty and property, which precede government and always take priority. The assembled people make a grant of coercive power to their government in exchange for security. Taxes pay for the security that benefits every citizen. This is in stark contrast to redistribution, which ultimately harms everyone.

When the government intrudes and redistributes wealth, production suffers. Beyond a certain level of intrusion and redistribution, the economy stagnates and contracts. As socialism fails, its proponents’ solution is even greater government power — more of the problem. The entire society descends into tyranny.

Sanders had trouble appreciating this fact in his 60 Minutes interview: “We’re very opposed to the authoritarian nature of Cuba, but you know, it’s unfair to simply say everything is bad.… When Fidel Castro came into office, you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing, even though Fidel Castro did it?”

Steven Hecht

Editor at Large Steve Hecht is a businessman, writer, and film producer, born and raised in New York. He has lived and worked in Guatemala since 1972. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and a Master of Business Administration in Banking and Finance, both from Columbia University. He has worked on development projects in Guatemala to help the country leave its underdeveloped state and reach its great potential. Realizing the misconceptions prevalent about Guatemala and Latin America in the outside world, he has written for the Washington Times, Daily Caller, Fox News, Epoch Times, BizPac Review, Washington Examiner, Frontpage Mag, New English Review, PanAm Post, and PJ Media. He has appeared as a guest on national American media networks and programs, including the One America News, Newsmax, and The Lars Larson Show. Steve’s reporting has included meeting with coyotes, the human smugglers who have ferried millions of illegal immigrants into the United States via Guatemala’s 595-mile border with Mexico.

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