Bernie: The Rise of Democratic National Socialism

This election is seeing an evolution of what it means to be a liberal or if there is just a thing as a liberal. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton both believe in the bureaucratic state and ever extending government, but there is one difference: Hillary Clinton is part of the political class who still believes in free trade and unlimited immigration, whereas Sanders opposes free trade, and unlike many Democratic socialists, opposes additional levels of immigration. Sanders views free trade as hurting the working man as these foreigners are putting our workers out of business and has stated publicly that immigration is a “Koch Brother idea” to import cheap labor to underprice American workers.

Elizabeth Warren is the leader of the national Democratic socialist movement in America, and while she is not opposed to unlimited immigration since it provides her side with more voters, she is strongly opposed to free trade as she proved to be one of Obama's biggest opponent of giving him trade authority.

National Review's Kevin Williamson noted that Bernie Sanders often complains about trade with countries such as China and Mexico, while he rarely deals with high trade deficits with the Canadians, Germans or Swedes. Sanders finds it easier to make his case when screaming about China or Mexico, countries that are populated with people of color. His positon on immigration and trade are similar to Donald Trump. His tone is no different, but then many anti-immigration groups just as Numbers USA, FAIR and Center for Immigration Studies were started by John Tanton, a population control progressive who used immigration restriction as just another mechanism to control population. Many conservatives’ immigration reformists quote these groups, but the reality is that these groups are not conservatives and Bernie Sanders would easily find a home with them.

The key element in the modern day liberal is that the modern day liberal no longer exists and is not the just the party of big government, but it the Party of the Bureaucratic state. The bureaucratic state is ruled by bureaucrats and Democratic government is merely a formality while the bureaucratic state actually rules. Jonathan Turley noted, “In the new regulatory age, presidents and Congress can still change the government’s priorities, but the agencies effectively run the show based on their interpretations and discretion. The rise of this fourth branch represents perhaps the single greatest change in our system of government since the founding….We cannot long protect liberty if our leaders continue to act like mere bystanders to the work of government.”

For Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, their hatred is directed at the wealth producers of this country since they truly do not believe that the wealthy have earned their wealth. Bill Clinton moved the Democrats more to the center after his Party lost the 1994 congressional elections while abandoning the leftist drift of his first two years.

After 2000, the party moved leftward and the Iraq war was the impetus to final leftist takeover of the Democratic Party, and the Obama Presidency represented the death knell of the moderate Democrat. Obama's Presidency pushed the party ever so leftward and the expansion of the welfare state from government control over the health care decision and Dodd-Frank has given the government the vehicle to control our banking system.

Sanders' campaign is simply proof that the modern day liberal is no longer a liberal, but a leftist who believes in the Bureaucratic state ruling and Democracy merely taking a back seat to experts running the country with Congressional input minimized. Sanders is running as Socialist, but truly, he is a Democratic National Socialist. Hillary Clinton has moved so far to the left just to be in the mainstream of her own Party.

Note to reader: In this case, I am using Democratic National Socialism as an accurate description of Sanders' desire for expanded government powers into our daily lives and for the government holding the final decision in private companies’ strategy. This is not to say he would take over all private companies but by using bureaucrats, they will make the rules and private companies will find that they have to see government approval before proceeding in business. I am not saying that Sanders is a National Socialist in the style of Hitler, but he is willing to have government dictate to businesses and the individual what they can or cannot do. You can decide how far down the road Bernie is willing to lead us.