I mean, I love, love, LOVE Bernie. I'm Feelin' the Bern, for sure. But this has been a rough week for him. Hillary, Biden, Trump, Carson and Benghazi all dominated the news for many days. So much has happened in the past week that the debate seems like an event in the distant past! And, although Bernie's debate performance was mostly stellar, I think he has not yet come up with the right answers on certain issues. Here are my suggestions as to what he might say, in the future, in response to these potentially campaign-destroying topics.
Gun Control ~ Bernie needs to shift the focus, here. He doesn't have to "defend" the votes he cast. He just needs to explain them. Here's a suggestion as to how he can do that, by saying this:
"Every vote I cast was the vote of first a Representative and then a Senator, from a rural state, with hunters, ranchers, farmers and conservationists. We have few "gun incidents" in Vermont. As an elected official, it was my job to vote the Will of My Constituents. That is exactly what I did. As a Presidential Candidate, I might have some different views from my constituents in Vermont."
Socialism ~ Bernie is REALLY failing here, but he doesn't have to be! He needs to forget Scandinavia, and stay right here in the USA for his examples. Here's what he might say about it:
"Let me begin by defining Socialism for you: 'Socialism is tax-payer funds being used collectively to benefit society as a whole - despite income, contribution or ability.'
Here are some every day examples of Socialistic programs currently in use in our country: The Military, Highways/Roads, Public Libraries, The Police Dept, The Fire Dept, Student Loans, Bridges, Garbage Collection, Public Landfills, War, Farm Subsidies, the CIA, the FBI, Congressional Health Care, the EPA, Social Security, Medicaid, Public Utilities, Public Parks, Museums, Public Schools, Prisons, Corporate Subsidies, the VA, all Elected Officials, Food Stamps, Sewer Systems, the Court System, the GI Bill, Hoover Dam, IRS, The Pentagon, State and City Zoos, Free Lunch Program, the FDA, health Care for 9/11 Rescue Workers, Swine Flu Vaccine, Disability Insurance, Town and State Run Beaches, Corporate Bailouts, City Buses, Unemployment lnsurance, City Buses, WIC, Snow Removal, Pbs, the CDC, Welfare, Street Lights, FEMA, Public Defenders, Antrak, Homeland Security, OSHA, State and National Monuments, USDA, Health and Human Services, Government Scholarships, Census Bureau, Dept of Energy, Customs and Border Protection, Secret Service, Department of Education, Peace Corps, Department of Justice, NOAA, and The White House, just to name a few!
We are a Capitalist country, however, we have many Socialistic Programs in place, so that our government can run as efficiently as possible. However, we are only as good as the employees we have in each of these programs. If a citizen has an unpleasant interaction with one of these employees, it does not mean that the whole program is useless and should be thrown out! All in all, socialistic programs provide a Net Benefit for the citizens of our country.
The GOP wants to do away with as many of these programs as they can. They want to privatize everything they can. That means that every one of these programs would be run with a profit motive, and those profits would not go back to We, The People, they would go into the pockets of those who fund Republican campaigns, and their cronies.
We have already seen disastrous effects that Privatizing Prisons has caused. In some instances, judges have even been paid off, to send teens to prison! There is an underlying desire, on the part of the Private Prison System to have more criminals in our society, so they can fill their cells and turn a profit from it! Plain and simple, this is just wrong — prisons should never be run for profit! The same is true for many of these other programs. They should be run with Public money, for the Public good. If profits are generated, they should go right back into the Public coffers.
Socialist programs are not something to be feared. Our country would fail overnight without them Anyone who tries to paint me as evil because I am a "socialist" is only displaying their own ignorance about how we already ARE using many, many socialist programs, and have for many years."
And finally...
Communism ~ Thankfully, we are already dealing with the "Communist" label. This was going to come up eventually, so I'm glad (thanks to Donald Trump) that it came up early, so Bernie has plenty of time to craft his response to this one. I would posit that Trump, if any moderator ever asked him, would not even be able to define either Socialism or Communism, and I doubt he could pinpoint the differences between the two. But I digress. Bernie needs to draw out the differences between "Socialist Programs" and a Communist Regime. And he needs to use very simple language, that a Middle School student could understand! He has to speak to the lowest denominator, so there can be no mistake about his meaning.
He might try something like this:
"Socialism" is sometimes used interchangeably with "Communism" but the two philosophies have some stark differences. Most notably, while communism is a political system, socialism is primarily an economic system that can exist in various different forms under many types of political systems. Communism is based on the holding of all property by the state. There is a rejection of free markets and extreme distrust of Capitalism in any form.. Socialism is based on the holding of MOST property in common, with actual ownership ascribed to the workers, not the State. Many Capitalist countries employ some form of socialistic programs for the communal good.*
I hope Bernie gets better at answering these questions. He needs to get the electorate to understand what he means, and I hope he gets a chance to read my post! Love you, Bernie!
*"75 Ways Socialism Has Improved America", The Daily Kos, March 29, 2012
**Watch Thom Hartmann discuss the Daily Kos original article on YouTube 75 Ways Socialism Has Improved America.
*Comparison Chart Communism vs Socialism, diffen.com
***Artwork by Jason J. Patterson