The Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders went to Georgetown University on Thursday where he held a speech in which he explained that the country would be so much better if American vision of socialism would apply on U.S soil, says The Atlantic.
Bernie Sanders was present on Thursday at one of the most prestigious universities in the nation to defend the so called American socialism, as he’s been asked to justify up and down the campaign trail, confirms the same source. Socialism is a political ideology well contested in the U.S, so Sanders tried to offer examples such as Sweden, Denmark and Norway where this ideology really worked.
F.D. Roosevelt and Johnson, appreciated by Sanders
During his one hour speech, Bernie Sanders praised former Democratic presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson for their role in history, by creating jobs and eradicating powerty in the U.S. He said the Republicans also had something negative to say back then about social safety net choices, but now those decisions make “the fabric of our nation and the foundation of the middle class.” “By the way, almost everything he proposed was called ‘socialist.’”, said Sanders about Roosevelt.
In his discussions, the Vermont senator had one motto: ‘In America the rich are too rich and opportunities for the middle class are few and far between’. On that did Sanders build his speech, although in America Socialism is an ideology often associated with the Soviet Union. So, to display such a populist message to an elite university could sound odd, but surprising Bernie Sanders received so much applauses.
According to The Atlantic, Sanders wanted to praise Pope Francis for offering up critiques of unrestrained capitalism, and made sure to mention the pontiff on Thursday. “We need to create a culture which, as Pope Francis reminds us, cannot just be based on the worship of money. We must not accept a nation in which billionaires compete as to the size of their super-yachts while children in America go hungry and veterans sleep out on the streets”.
A new economy, one that works for everybody, is what the U.S. need
When it came to defend the ideology he so much believes in, Bernie Sanders chose to return to Roosevelt. “Let me define for you, simply and straightforwardly, what democratic socialism means to me. It builds on what Franklin Delano Roosevelt said when he fought for guaranteed economic rights for all Americans. Democratic socialism means that we must create an economy that works for all, not just the very wealthy.”, stated Sanders, quoted by The Atlantic.
Sanders even wanted everybody to know that his ideology has not been imported. “I don’t believe in some foreign ‘ism’, but I believe deeply in American idealism. Real freedom must include economic security … It is a vision that we have not yet achieved.”
A recent Gallup poll says that 50% of American voters wouldn’t pick a socialist president, so Sanders’s speech concerns Democratic party that America simply will not elect a socialist to run the White House.
