Bernie the Social Conservative?

This article is one of the best I've ever read on Bernie. Take 5 minutes enjoy and imagine little conservative brains exploding throughout the U.S.

ln American politics, almost nothing is what it first seems. While he is famous for being grumpy, Bernie Sanders is running for President on a highly positive vision that would leave his grandchildren and everybody else a happier place to live. His policies would enable the wealthiest nation in history to meet the basic rights of its citizens: universal health care, tuition-free tertiary education and the right to organize. He will do this at the expense of the rich and powerful. Some have cast this as a radical and unrealistic position, but this is deceptive: Sanders’ vision is firmly grounded in the political philosophies, strategies and achievements of three of the greatest leaders in America’s recent history. In this regard, Sanders is a ‘conservative’ in the true meaning of the word: he believes future progress will require conserving the principles that America has always dreamed of: active democracy, greater equality and the freedom to pursue happiness.

Like President Teddy Roosevelt 110 years ago, Sanders believes that monopolistic power as seen in today’s Too Big To Fail banks is anti-democratic. The American people must retain control over the corporate charter privileges that they extend through the state. During his presidency, Roosevelt used anti-trust laws to break up dozens of corporations. This included John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, a company with such dominance over the nation’s energy market that Rockefeller’s personal wealth was equivalent to 1.5% of U.S. economic output. When corporations are so big that they control the government, they must be broken up; as Sanders says “If a bank is too big to fail, it is too big to exist.” Sanders’ platform to bust up the big banks lives in Teddy Roosevelt’s great tradition of trust-busting.

https://medium.com/JeanetteJing/bernard-sanders-progressive-conservative-2d7033186dea