Chris Matthews misses the point about Bernie Sanders brand of Democratic Socialism
You know it would not be long before the attacks began. Sadly it started early from the center left of the aisle. The corporate media that some purport to be on the left have been attempting to dampen Bernie Sanders populist advance. To be clear, according to the polls Hillary Clinton is way ahead of Bernie Sanders. If one watches Bernie Sanders’ crowds and non-scientific online polling, one wonders. Maybe one should take a poll of just the politically engaged which is likely more accurate.
It is obvious that the corporate left is worried. Why? It is likely that irrespective of the person, the winner of the Democratic primary will be president. Over the last few weeks Hillary Clinton’s favorability rating has fallen precipitously to negative territory. Bernie Sanders’ fav0rability is still in positive territory.
This explains the recent Chuck Todd attack and Chris Matthews attack on Sanders indirectly through the DNC Chairwoman. Chris Matthews has gotten even more bizarre in his attacks as he misleads Americans about what Bernie Sanders really represents. He wants to scare them.
“Socialists traditionally believe in government control of the economy,” Chris Matthews said. “Democrats believe in modifying the economy to help people at the bottom, a safety net. But clearly they believe in the market.”
All Democrats do believe in the market. Corporate Democrats are no different than moderate Republicans however who worship a mythical market that knows all. It is imperative that one recognizes that a market does not know human values. It is government, we the people, that creates a moral and value system.
Real Democrats or Social Democrats or whatever you want to call them believe that a capitalist market is a tool like any other and must be regulated to prevent its inherent inhumanity, henceforth a social safety net. That is democratic socialism. That is what is found in successfully regulated capitalist countries with strong social safety nets. Innovation isn’t stifled. Yet citizens of those countries are happier, countries like Great Britain, Canada, Switzerland, and Denmark.
Matthews became rather condescending about DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s refusal to allow Chuck Todd to create a false narrative about the Democratic Party. “Politically she does not want to offend the Bernie people,” Chris Matthews said. “Maybe there is an intellectual problem but I would give her the benefit of the doubt and say it was really a political problem she faces because I think Hilary Clinton has to stake out the difference and she better. It is not the Democratic Socialist Party. You’ve got to run as a Democrat which is always harder to explain, being a Progressive or a Liberal. It is a lot harder than being a Right Wing or Left Wing. You are actually somewhere Center Left. And it is a little harder to define. But clearly Democrats have had a record on this for 200 something years of being for Social Security, Medicare, Civil Rights, interventions in the market. But not getting rid of the market. Clearly they accept the power and efficiency of the capitalist system. Socialist do not. That is a fundamental difference.”
It is evident Chris Matthews does not understand the fundamental difference between Communism and Democratic Socialism. America is already a Democratic Socialist state just not at a level that protects all its citizens like Denmark. Bernie Sanders never advocated getting rid of the market. It is a myth that a scantly unregulated capitalist system efficient. The fact that a stock broker or banker makes more than the creators and inventors of technologies or educators is probative. It is a scheme for those that do the least to prosper on the backs of those who have the real knowledge, innovative skills, or on those that do the real work. Put a farmer and a banker on a desolate island. The person that would survive should be worth more. Yet in our system the farmer begs the stock broker or the banker for the financial means to produce. Americans must remove themselves from the indoctrination.
The issue is that the Democratic Party has become the semi-humane arm of the corporatocracy and as such biased to the corporations and the wealthy. America has in fact become both an Oligarchy and a Plutocracy. This was recently acknowledged by President Jimmy Carter. The policies that Bernie Sanders advocates are ones that brings real democracy to the masses and ensures that corporations do not gain preeminence over humanity.
Both the Left and the Right will be attacking anyone attempting to bring back real power and economic control to the masses. It is imperative that the grassroots do not allow them to succeed. The status quo has decimated the middle-class as it has transferred the country’s wealth to a few, socialism for the wealthy.