Why This Vermonter Does Not Feel the Bern

Of the potential Democratic candidates running for president in 2020, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is the most unusual. His insurgency campaign that had no image handlers almost defeated the Clinton political machine, and he did it while being an open “democratic socialist.” Unlike 2016, he will not have to fight for name recognition since his 2016 campaign brought him considerable fame. 

Part of his appeal is that he is considered “anti-establishment,” and therefore sincere. However, his reputation is disconnected with reality. Senator Sanders’ record is similar to that of every other politician he has condemned as being part of the “establishment.” Indeed, it is a festering amalgamation of hypocrisy and deception. 

Senator Sanders likes to portray himself as the champion of the average American worker. For example, on his own website, he condemns the “proliferation of millionaires and billionaires at the same time as millions of Americans work longer hours for lower wages,” and in order to mitigate the “greed” of “the billionaire class,” he proposes “[i]ncreasing the federal minimum wage…to $15 an hour,” “[r]equiring employers to provide at least 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave,” and “[m]aking it easier for workers to join unions.” Regardless of the merits of his proposals, a cursory glance at his website would lead one to conclude that Senator Sanders is a sincere advocate for worker’s rights. Thorough investigation, however, reveals that he rarely supports his rhetoric with any meaningful legislation. 

Despite having been in congress since 1991, he has only been the primary sponsor of three bills that became law, two of which were renaming post offices in Vermont. For someone who is so troubled by the plight of working Americans, he does not seem to want to help them with any legislation at all. 

His historical revisionism regarding his record is worse than his hypocrisy. Sanders argues that his self-described political philosophy of “democratic socialism” is equivalent to the policies practiced in the Nordic countries and is unreservedly different from the variants of socialism that are culpable for the deaths of more than 100 million people. Indeed, he said in a 2016 Democratic Party town hall: “When I talk about democratic socialism, I’m not looking at Venezuela. I’m not looking at Cuba. I’m looking at countries like Denmark and Sweden.” However, with that statement, Sanders divorced himself from his history of praising those very same regimes. 

In 2011, he wrote in the New Hampshire newspaper, Valley News, that “the American dream is more apt to be realized in South America, in places such as…Venezuela.” In 2011, Venezuela was ruled by the despotic Hugo Chavez. By almost every economic indicator, Hugo Chavez’s policies — continued by his personally appointed successor, Nicolás Maduro — destroyed the Venezuelan economy. Chavez’s socialism — as is the case in all of history — did not produce prosperity: it produced misery. According to Reuters, as a result of Venezuelan socialism, the average Venezuelan lost an average of “11 kilograms (24 lbs)” in 2017, and Venezuela has a poverty rate of “almost 90 percent.” 

Additionally, in 1985, Sanders defended Fidel Castro in a televised interview: “Fidel Castro… educated their kids, gave them health care, totally transformed the society.” Sanders is correct when he says that Castro “totally transformed the society”: Castro, according to The Guardian, “tolerated little dissent,” created an “intrusive, suspicious state security apparatus,” imprisoned people because they were “homosexuals or dressed the ‘wrong’ way,” and implemented policies that consequently created “shortages of basic foodstuffs.” 

For someone who is “not looking at Venezuela,” he is seemingly quite inspired by it. Despite his attempts to say otherwise, Bernie Sanders is not advocating for a mainstream political philosophy: he is an apologist for the same radical and pernicious ideology that is responsible for the oppression and starvation of the Venezuelan and Cuban people. 

Sanders can portray himself as the champion of working-class Americans, and he can pretend that he advocates for a version of socialism that is dissimilar from the morally bankrupt ideology that is directly responsible for the murder of more than 100 million people throughout history. The facts, however, demonstrate otherwise. While Bernie Sanders did not invent hypocritical and dishonest politics, he has certainly perfected it. As a Vermonter, I accept that he is my senator. Even if we do not like our elected representatives, we must honor the choices of our fellow voters. However, I am infuriated both by his shameless revisionism of his appalling record and the left’s willingness to be misled by it. His record is not an example of statesmanship: it is indefensible.