What Bernie Sanders Means by ‘Democratic Socialism’

“Democratic socialism means that we must create an economy that works for all, not just the very wealthy”, concluded Sanders.

Sanders is an independent, not a member of either major US political party, but he meets with lawmakers from the Democratic Party on policy issues.

Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) made the long-awaited case for why the word “socialism” isn’t a slur.

“He redefined the relationship of the federal government to the people of our country”. He combatted cynicism, fear and despair. He reinvigorated democracy. He transformed our country. He would like a $15 minimum wage. “People are not truly free when they are unemployed or underpaid, or when they are exhausted by working long hours”, Sanders said.

On Thursday, Sanders set out to explain why it should.

The rich get much richer. They have in fact, become the “fabric of our nation” and the “foundation of the middle class”, he said.

WASHINGTON, DC: Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. When President Lyndon Johnson signed into law legislation creating Medicare and Medicaid in 1965, his initiatives were “derided by the right wing as socialist programs that were a threat to our American way of life”. “I hope all of you know this isn’t a basic concept, still a conservative concept”.

“We need to develop a political movement which once again is prepared to take on and defeat a ruling class whose greed in destroying our nation”, he said. He rarely holds fundraisers and has scorned the Super PACS funding his competitors’ bids.

“Workers will not have to be trapped in jobs they do not like simply because their employers are offering them decent health insurance plans”.

Criticized for focusing nearly exclusively on economic inequality and initially neglecting the challenge of racism in America, Sanders argued his politics were consistent too with the tradition of civil rights activism.

The Sanders campaign was encouraging people to use the social media hashtag #BernieAtGU to respond to the speech or explain what “economic and social justice” means to them.

And the Roosevelt connection likely represents an attempt by Sanders to move past any sort of “socialism” label by talking about big ideas that more voters can get on board with. “That meant the world to him, and he loved this country”.

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders Thursday called for a new alliance among the United States, its closest allies, Russian Federation and a few Arab nations to defeat the rise of terrorist groups like the Islamic State group, the Hill reported.

“In a 1974 article titled “Concentrated Wealth Is Causing Economic Illness”, from an unidentified newspaper that was in his papers at the University of Vermont library, Sanders is described as wanting to “make it illegal to amass more wealth than a human family could use in a lifetime”. “The next time you hear me attacked as a socialist – like tomorrow – remember this: I don’t believe that government should take over the grocery store down the street, or control the means of production”, he said. “But I believe that the middle class and the working families who produce the wealth of America deserve a fair deal”.

I do believe in private companies that thrive and invest and grow in America, companies that create jobs here rather than companies that are shutting down in America and increasing their profits by exploiting low-wage labor overseas.

I don’t believe in special treatment for the top 1 percent, but I do believe in equal treatment for African Americans who are right to proclaim the moral principle that Black Lives Matter.

Anticipation for Sanders’ was running high at the Jesuit university.

“People can have honest disagreements about immigration or about anything else”.

The latter portion of the senator’s statement was drowned out by cheering. “Too many have people suffered, and too many people have died for us to continue hearing racist words coming from major political leaders”. “I have no doubt there nothing, nothing, nothing that we can not accomplish”, he concluded.

“Our response must begin with an understanding of past mistakes and missteps in our previous approaches to foreign policy”.

Sanders warned against U.S.-led regime change, blaming the USA invasion of Iraq for destabilizing the Middle East an implicit criticism of Clinton’s vote to invade. ‘I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will never send our sons and daughters to war under false pretense or pretenses about dubious battles with no end in sight’.