John Samuel Tieman: A Few Thoughts On Sanders And Socialism

There is a lot of debate these days as to why Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, in his run to be president, is doing so well. Pundits think he will win the primary in New Hampshire, where he has a 73% favorable rating. Some think he’ll take Iowa. His campaign stops look like rock concerts, with thousands of boisterous supporters in attendance. Various polls have him running only a few popularity points behind Hillary Clinton.

Some say he is the anti-Hillary. Certainly that’s part of his appeal. But when I look at his demographics, his supporters, I’m drawn to a different thought. Who, well over a year from the election, would be interested in such politics? Surveys have shown that many of his supporters are well educated. I interpret that to mean folks who are politically aware and ideologically engaged. These folks are not so much anti-Hillary as they are pro-Bernie. But many are not so much pro-Sanders as they are pro-socialist. Virtually all commentators fail to mention the role of leftist ideological commitment.

I have often thought that a large number of Americans are socialist. Some know they are. Most don’t. The anti-communist witch-hunts of Joe McCarthy made it for decades virtually impossible to discuss democratic socialism, lest one be branded “soft on communism.” There are many who feel, without calling themselves socialists, that the United States needs, to name just a few issues, a mixed economy, an extensive system of social security that counteracts poverty, a government that supports trade unions, consumer protections, and laws that regulate private enterprise by ensuring labor rights and fair market competition. Many others are clearly and openly aware of their democratic socialism. In either case, when we consider the historical arc from Reganomics and deregulation to the recent financial crisis beginning in 2008, these failures have made criticism of capitalism necessary to survival.

I don’t think Sanders can actually win. But that’s not my point. My point is this. There is another historical arc, from Occupy Wall Street to Bernie Sanders. But will this trend continue? There is a Democratic Socialist Party in the United States. It has some interesting members like Cornel West, Barbara Ehrenreich and Dolores Huerta. It’s tiny. A few thousand members. This is not exactly the Labour Party of Great Britain. Nonetheless, there is hope. It seems unlikely that the Democratic Party can absorb anti-capitalist issues and policies. Such matters are simply too threatening to a party that ideologically differs little from the Republicans, or for that matter the Tea Party. Nonetheless, these issues are here to stay. Reaganomics impoverished seven million middle class citizens. The fall of Lehman Brothers, and the economic fallout that followed, brought financial ruin to countless hard working Americans. There is a need, within our body politic, for a party that stands in permanent opposition to that which is the worst in capitalism and legislates accordingly.

Is such a democratic socialist party possible in the United States? I simply don’t know. As I said, we have a far right party, the Tea Party; an extremely conservative party, the Republicans; and a well right of center party, the Democrats. The ideological left is ripe for organization, which in large part explains the popularity of Senator Sanders. And viable parties have been formed from less need than American now has. Occupy Wall Street was extraordinary but disorganized. A democratic socialist party, one built upon the traditions of Eugene Debs and Norman Thomas and Michael Harrington and now Bernie Sanders – it’s possible. It’s just possible.

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Copyright 2015 John Samuel Tieman