Sen. Bernie Sanders is often dismissed as too radical because he identifies himself as a democratic socialist. But when people consider his proposals and policies, they don’t think they are that radical, and the vast majority supports them. The term “socialism” is the source of much unfounded prejudice and misunderstanding


Socialism is simply using the government to benefit the people with useful programs, many of which we already enjoy in the United States. When government responds to the people, that’s what Sanders calls democratic socialism. In his own words: “I mean, to me, it means democracy, frankly. That’s all it means.” For the masses of Americans, it means voting in their own economic interests.

On Nov. 19, Sen. Sanders gave an excellent speech at Georgetown University outlining what he means by democratic socialism. It is the kind of socialism demonstrated by Franklin D. Roosevelt in his New Deal programs, which helped working people and raised millions from poverty into the middle class. As a result he was among the most popular American presidents, since his New Deal policies gave us Social Security and decades of prosperity.

Sanders would like to restore America to the peace and prosperity of those times by empowering the people and having the government work for them, and not just for the rich and the corporations. We can help the people advance and restore the middle class by investing in free college education and health care. We can return to prosperity by creating millions of jobs with living wages by repairing our crumbling infrastructure and making the transition to a clean energy economy.


http://registerguard.com/rg/news/local/33838802-75/sanders-socialism-is-democratic-governance.html.csp