Bernie Sanders: America's #1 Socialist Makes His Move
into the Mainstream
Vermont senator, for years a political exile,
insists his left-wing beliefs chime with
Americans far more than people think
By Paul Harris
SolidarityEconomy.net via Guardian.co.uk
October 21, 2011
http://www.solidarityeconomy.net/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/21/bernie-sanders-socialist-vermont-interview?INTCMP=SRCH
Bernie Sanders sits in his Senate office and reflects
on another unexpected twist in his already unusual
political life. As the only self-proclaimed socialist
to sit in the US Congress, Sanders is long used to
surviving in the political wilderness. But Sanders is
now having to get used to a different environment
altogether: the mainstream.
His constant slamming of Wall Street, his critiques of
big business and the excesses of money in politics, as
well as his call for a defence of American jobs, have
become hot issues in US politics. The senator from
Vermont is now a regular on American TV screens and
rapidly becoming a fixture of US politics and a hero to
many on the left.
The white-haired and irascible Sanders, 70, who is
famed for his blunt outspokenness, almost became
bashful at the thought that his exile from the
mainstream appears to be ending.
"It's, you know, nice to know that positions you have
been advocating for years are now getting out to Main
Street, and that millions of people are beginning to
say: enough is enough," he told the Guardian.
Is this, at last, his political moment? "Yeah, it is,"
he said, and then he details why, in a typically long,
passionate, Sanders-style explosion of stream-of-
consciousness explanation.
"If you were to speak to any audience in America and
you say: there's something wrong with our system when
the crooks on Wall Street, through their recklessness
and criminal behaviour, are able to cause a recession,
which has resulted in so much suffering to people, and
then they get bailed out by the American people and
then three years later end up making more money than
they ever have before: people go nuts!"
He pauses for breath to think about the situation. "The
short answer to your question is: 'Yes'," he says.
Sanders is unique in American politics. In a country
dominated by a two-party system, he is the lone
independent in the Senate. In a political landscape
where "socialist" is essentially a curse word, he has
carved out a successful political career, with a solid
base of support in his home state. Tall, with a shock
of white hair and a slightly dishevelled appearance
even when wearing a smart suit, he speaks with the
thick Brooklyn accent of his working-class childhood,
even while inhabiting the rarefied atmosphere of the
Senate.
Sanders also pounds out the same message every day: the
middle class is being destroyed, the government needs
to create jobs, the banks are corrupt and big money has
bought both political parties and made a mockery of
American democracy. His Twitter feed features a
constant repetition of economic facts. A few samples
from recent days:
"Corporate tax revenue in 2010 was 27% lower than 2000,
even though corporate profits are up 60% over the last
decade."
"Since 2000, over 12 million Americans have lost their
health insurance."
"Since 2000, nearly 12 million Americans have slipped
out of the middle class and into poverty."
Such opinions would hardly make Sanders stand out in
much of the rest of the world. His beliefs - which
idolise Scandinavian-style social democracy - would fit
comfortably in the middle left of Britain's Labour
party or Germany's SPD. But it is impossible to over-
state just how much of a political death sentence being
called a "socialist" - nevermind actually proudly
proclaiming it - usually is in America.
The strange bird out of Vermont
After all, many elected Democrats shy away from the
"liberal" label out of a fear of being demonised as
left-wing extremists. Yet, even though political
opponents have accurately called Sanders a "red", and
the New York Times once derided him as "a strange bird
out of Vermont", Sanders has flourished.
Indeed, he says his beliefs chime far more with
Americans than people think. "All I can tell you is
that in every poll I have seen if you ask people: do
you think the wealthiest people in this country should
pay their fair share of taxes? Then the answer is: yes,
they should," he said.
He rattled off a long list of other issues in the same
way, posing a question on an issue and then answering
it for the voters in the affirmative: cutting excessive
military spending, not cutting social security,
creating well-paying jobs in America, closing corporate
tax loopholes. "I don't know if that makes us a left
nation, but that is where the American people are
coming from," he insisted.
No doubt many of his opponents would debate that. But
where does America's solitary successful socialist come
from himself?
Sanders was born in New York to a Jewish mother and
father who had come over from Poland. His family
struggled and never really broke out of its tough
circumstances. Though Eugene V Debs, a leader of the
Socialist party of America in the 1900s, is a hero to
him, Sanders does not hesitate when asked what his main
political influence has been.
"Growing up without lots of money. I didn't have to
have a book to tell me how a family gets by when there
is not a lot of money. I saw unfairness. That was the
major inspiration in my politics," he said.
He worked hard at school, went to the University of
Chicago and came across socialist politics. A spell at
a kibbutz in Israel also showed him how a community
could work together for a common good. He moved to
Vermont with his first wife, and pursued a variety of
jobs from writer to film-maker. He got into the state's
fringe left-wing politics. After various electoral
failures, he finally ran for mayor of Burlington -
Vermont's biggest city - as an independent in 1980.
He won by just 12 votes. But it changed everything.
Sanders proved himself a master retail politician. He
may have been a socialist who made goodwill visits to
the Soviet Union and Cuba, but he also got potholes
fixed.
He promoted local businesses and brought a small
baseball team to Burlington. In 1990 he ran for
Congress and won, becoming the first socialist in the
House of Representatives since the 1920s. He was re-
elected seven times. By 2006 he ran for Senate. He won
that, too, beating wealthy Republican Richard Tarrant,
who helpfully drove a Bentley, which did not endear him
to many poor Vermonters. Sanders crushed him and became
the only socialist ever to sit in the American Senate.
It was a remarkable achievement. Though Vermont has a
liberal streak and is often mocked as a haven of
hippie-ish counter-culture (it is the home of Ben and
Jerry's ice cream), it has actually historically
favoured Republican politicians.
Sanders dismisses the idea that someone like him could
only come from a state like Vermont. Jobs and
inequality are hardly a Vermont-only concern, he says.
"All these issues will resonate in every state in the
country," he says.
They are certainly resonating now. The Occupy Wall
Street protests, which began in New York and have
spread rapidly across America and the world, have
sharpened debate on some of the glaring inequalities in
American life.
Statistics pointing out that 1% of Americans own 42% of
the country's wealth have become part of the national
conversation. After initially slamming attacks on Wall
Street, some Republican politicians have even started
admitting that the economy looks a little slanted.
For Sanders - whose fame is such that most people just
refer to him as "Bernie" - this is old news. He has
been saying this for years. In his office, he sits on a
couch in front of which are a spread of more than a
dozen newspapers and magazines.
'Lobbyists have undue influence'
He vehemently attacks the media for ignoring him up to
this point. "If you look at the newspapers here - the
Washington papers - most of the discussion deals with
campaign gossip," he said.
"But campaigns never stop and they focus on personality
rather than say: 'OK, the middle class in America is
collapsing. Why is that?'
Sanders picks up one magazine off the table which
features a prominent Tea Party politician, and reads
out the headline with a scornful laugh. "Rand Paul
finds his groove?" he says incredulously. It is hard to
get Sanders to talk about such trivia. Every question
comes back to economics and the current hard times. His
passion is relentless and his sentences endless.
He believes big business has bought off the political
elites of both parties.
"Washington is dominated by big money. So you have an
overwhelming majority of Americans who believe the
wealthy should pay their fair share. But you know what?
The lobbyists from Wall Street and corporate America
happen not to agree with that, and they're the ones
that make campaign contributions. They are knocking on
Senators' doors. They have undue influence. The vast
majority of the American people feel that we should be
tough on Wall Street. Unfortunately, Wall Street spends
hundreds of millions of dollars to suggest that we
loosen up," he said.
It remains to be seen what will become of Sanders'
moment in the sun. He supports the anti-Wall Street
protests, but he has joined the critics who want them
to organise, get an agenda and try to get people
elected. "I think what the Wall Street folks are doing
is focusing attention. That's great. But it's not
enough. What is your agenda? Wall Street is greedy,
reckless and they operate illegally. That's fine. But
what do you do?" he said.
But there is one thing Sanders himself will not be
doing: running for president.
Earlier that day, one of Sanders's secretaries in his
Senate office had fielded a phone call from a supporter
urging him to run for the White House. "He has been
asked multiple times and he's declined. He's happy
serving the people of Vermont," she patiently explained
to the caller.
It is not an uncommon request. But Sanders is adamant
he will not run, even though he is harshly critical of
Barack Obama. Sanders does not want to become a 2012
version of Ralph Nader, whose 2000 campaign is blamed
by some for robbing Al Gore of a vital few percent and
paving the way for George Bush. Walking to the Senate
to vote, Sanders strides past other Senators and
attracts a mini-gaggle of reporters.
But, he explains, he is not interested in the White
House. "I would likely end up causing a right-wing
extremist to be president of the United States. That is
not something I would be happy to do," he said.
Then he added for emphasis: "It would likely be a
futile and losing campaign. That would not be too
smart."
Sanders is many unusual things: loud, outspoken and a
successful socialist in America. But one thing he is
not is naive.
c 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited or its
affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
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