5 things to know about Bernie Sanders

By Samuel Smith, Deputy Managing Editor Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Two supporters of former Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) react as they listen to him speak at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. July 25, 2016. | (Photo: REUTERS/Rick Wilking)

3. He’s a self-described Democratic Socialist

Sanders brought the Democratic Socialist agenda into the forefront of Democratic political discourse during his presidential run in 2016. His views and his 2020 presidential bid are supported by Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, who herself has publicly expressed anti-Semitic and anti-Israel views.

Sanders' run in 2016, when he won 43% of the Democratic primary electorate, set the table for his 2020 run. Today, far-left progressive policy ideas favorited by Democratic Socialists — such as Medicare for All and free healthcare for illegal immigrants — have increasingly been embraced by the mainstream Democrats.

Democratic Socialism claims to operate under the belief that the government is responsible for taking care of the health and well-being of the American public.

While Sanders has thrown around the term Democratic Socialism for years, he clarified his definition of the term during speeches at Georgetown University in 2015 and George Washington University last June.

In both speeches, Sanders referenced the policies of former Democrat President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who instituted several public works projects, financial reforms, and regulations through his “New Deal” as the U.S. sought to recover from the Great Depression.

“If we are serious about rebuilding the American middle class, if we are serious about reinvigorating American democracy, we need to develop a political movement which once again is prepared to take on and defeat a ruling class whose greed is destroying our nation,” Sanders said in 2015.

“Let me take this opportunity to define for you simply and forwardly what democratic socialism means to me. It means building on what Franklin Delano Roosevelt said when he fought for guaranteed economic rights for all Americans. It builds on what Martin Luther King Jr. said in 1968. He stated, ‘This country has socialism for the rich and rugged individualism for the poor.’”

Sanders said his view of Democratic Socialism “builds on the success of many other countries around the world who have done a far better job than we have in protecting the needs of their working families, their elderly citizens, their children, their sick and they're poor.”

Sanders has referred to Scandinavian countries such as Demark when touting the successes of Democratic Socialism. However, officials from the Scandinavian countries often cited by Sanders have routinely explained that their countries are capitalist, not socialist.

“Democratic Socialism means that we must reform a political system which is corrupt,” Sanders said. “We must create an economy that works for all, not just the very wealthy.”