I finally got around to reading Bernie Sanders’ speech on the meaning of Democratic Socialism. I hope it gets wide circulation on social media. I think that a lot of people who’ve never had a positive thought about socialism will be surprised to find themselves shaking their heads mostly in agreement with what Bernie had to say.
I could critique the speech for how effective I think it will be, but I think I’ll just make a personal observation. I find myself bored and mildly annoyed by the incessant references to billionaires and the “One Percent” and Wall Street bankers. I probably need to take some time to sit down and reflect on why this kind of talk doesn’t resonate with me. It’s got to be at least partly because I grew up in the New York suburbs. Half my friends’ parents taught at Princeton, but the other half worked in New York as lawyers, advertising executives, brokers, and bankers. And most of them (nearly all of them actually) were Democrats. Most of the ones who were temporarily taken in by Reagan have returned to the fold after the spectacles of Kenneth Starr, the Iraq War, Terri Schiavo, Katrina, and Sarah Palin. I don’t really feel like these folks are responsible for wrecking the country, yet it certainly seems to them that Sanders is putting the blame at their feet.
Still, Sanders’ rhetoric is probably most effective when it is burning the hottest. I don’t think he scores a whole lot of points when he spends a third of his speech talking about statistics. What probably resonates the best is precisely the stuff that puts me off.
What I like about the speech is the strong moral voice he uses. I think it was clever and effective to invoke Pope Francis on several occasions. When he talks about taking care of children and the elderly and women who have just had a child, that’s what resonates with me. When he talks about people working harder and harder for smaller and smaller pieces of pie, that’s where I start nodding in agreement.
So, really, I don’t know how to judge the speech. I’m basically a Democratic Socialist in the Scandinavian mold, so I naturally am closer to Bernie on policy than I am to most mainstream Democrats. I’m not the one who needs convincing on the policy front. What I need convincing on is that it’s worth taking a risk on Sanders winning the nomination and either losing a winnable election or winning a bobbie prize where he’ll be unable to deliver on any of his promises.
To convince me this is a risk worth taking, I need to see that Bernie can win the argument he’s making in this speech. On that front, I think he did a decent job but, as I’ve said, I can’t really judge it. What I disliked is probably the most effective part.
What I liked?
It’s probably just preaching to the converted.
