Chris Matthews “has his own views” on Socialism, and, apparently, they end with an ascendant Left rounding up neo-liberals in Times Square. How he makes the jump from Medicare for All and affordable education to Animal Farm is only a mystery if you think he’s being honest.
Socialism calls for the nationalization of all major industry, for the means of production to be owned and operated by the state.
Bernie Sanders is not calling for that. Bernie Sanders is not calling for the state to be the arbiter of truth. He is calling for the apparatus of state to shift its priorities from corporate welfare, special interests, and profiteering toward life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Things we might call, domestically, “justice for all.”
Bernie Sanders’ vision isn’t particularly new, even in American politics. It is influenced by the tradition of Eugene Victor Debs, yes, but stands also in the tradition of the serially electable Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Chris Cocca 