Tag: Bernie Sanders

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ideological culture national politics & policies

Sanders Didn’t Say*

Bernie Sanders

What can we make of the leftist hatred of the Koch brothers, David and his elder brother Charles? For their support of libertarian and Tea Party causes, and a few Republican candidates, the left doesn’t just demonize them, the left singles them out.

I suppose a reasonable person could blanch at rich people giving money to political causes … if they objected to all super-​rich donors.

But that’s not what’s happening here.

Leftist hatred of the Kochs is especially weird, considering that Koch causes include gay marriage and opposition to war in the mid-​East. And yet it’s the Kochs who get called out … by Bernie Sanders, who wants to mobilize “millions of people to say ‘enough is enough — Koch brothers and millionaires can’t have it all.’”

Sanders didn’t say, “Soros and millionaires cannot have it all.” Leftist billionaire George Soros gives millions to organizations working to turn the U. S. into a European-​style “social democracy.”

Sanders didn’t say, “Bloomberg and millionaires cannot have it all.” Super-​rich statist Michael Bloomberg has spent fortunes to undermine the Second Amendment and make America more of a Nanny State.

Sanders didn’t say, “Steyer and millionaires cannot have it all.” California billionaire Tom Steyer sure spent a lot of money to raise taxes and elect Democrats.

Bernie Sanders, a self-​proclaimed socialist now running for the Democratic presidential nomination, is blinkered: others are greedy; his side is pure.

Enough is enough — what’s important to Sanders is that his opponents be silenced by government order. There’s nothing democratic about that.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Bernie Sanders

 

* This “BEST OF COMMON SENSE” column is reprinted from April 30, 2015. It has a strange relevance now that left-​of-​center pressure groups, a few of them funded in the past by billionaires not named Koch, have gotten themselves in the news for “protests” designed to take away the free speech rights (and made a mockery of “peaceably assemble”) of people they do not like. Please also see Paul Jacob’s Townhall column this weekend.

 

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Accountability general freedom ideological culture moral hazard nannyism national politics & policies responsibility

Impatience as a Political Impulse

impatience, frustration, politics, radicals, balance, caution

It is not demonization to recognize a besetting sin.

Yesterday, I warned against demonization, though admittedly, I have “picked on” both Trump and Bernie here at Common Sense and in this site’s new Steal This Meme section. In my defense, to refrain from seeing only the worst in one side or the other (or both) is not to resist telling the truth about the characteristic worst aspects, right or left.

Neither the Donald nor the Bern are good party men. Trump has never been close to the GOP; Sanders has registered “independent” throughout his Senatorial career.

But Sanders is a self-​proclaimed socialist, and his support is “from the left”; Trump is vague ideologically, but his characteristic blunt pronouncements seem “right-​wingish” even if not obviously conservative.

Maybe this is all about frustration and impatience.

Socialism has long been associated with impatience at the “slow pace” of progress, as economist Yves Guyot made clear in The Tyranny of Socialism over a hundred years ago. The fact that, even in our bumbling age, all segments of society have gotten richer is not enough. More must be extracted from a few and given to the many. That is the Bern of it.

Trump’s supporters are obviously impatient with things “not getting done” in Washington, and upset that “we don’t win anymore.” But one reason things are hard to do, politically, is that limited government, a rule of law, and separation of powers makes it difficult. Cutting through the b.s. sometimes means destroying the bedrock of a free society.

That sort of “winning” would be a Pyrrhic victory.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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impatience, frustration, politics, radicals, balance, caution

 

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general freedom ideological culture national politics & policies too much government

Koch Feels the Bern?

Charles Koch, Bernie Sanders, Bern, socialism

“Hardly.” That was the response the CEO of Koch Industries gave to his own question, “Is Charles Koch feeling the Bern?”

Yet, in Mr. Koch’s Washington Post op-​ed last week, the multi-​billionaire did “applaud the senator for giving a voice to many Americans struggling to get ahead in a system too often stacked in favor of the haves.”

Though Sen. Bernie Sanders regularly bashes Charles and his fellow-​billionaire brother, David, the Kochs are ahead of Sanders in decrying “the regulations, handouts, mandates, subsidies and other forms of largesse our elected officials dole out to the wealthy and well-​connected.” As Charles explains, “Perversely, this regulatory burden falls hardest on small companies, innovators and the poor, while benefitting many large companies like ours.”

Koch cites the government’s unfair, wasteful and destructive ethanol mandate: “We oppose that mandate, even though we are the fifth-​largest ethanol producer in the United States.”

That’s putting his mega-​money where his mouth is.

Indeed, it is just one example of the Kochs doing the very opposite of what their critics charge them with: advocating “radical” or “reactionary” policies that serve their business interests.

Sanders’s regular, ritual demonizing of the Koch brothers ignores the reality of who the Kochs are.

Their real disagreement with Sanders is over how best to increase opportunity.

The Vermont senator believes the answer is more government programs, regulations and taxes. Charles Koch, on the other hand, sees those very policies as “what built so many barriers to opportunity in the first place.”

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Charles Koch, Bernie Sanders, Bern, socialism

 

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If you enjoyed this article, please consider showing your appreciation by dropping something in our tip jar  (this link will take you to the Citizens in Charge donation page… and your contribution will go to the support of the Common Sense website). Maintaining this site takes time and money. Your help in spreading the message of common sense and liberty is very much appreciated!

 

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Accountability ideological culture national politics & policies

Tainted Money?

Bernie Sanders, PAC, hypocrisy, donations, illustration

Bernie Sanders’s supporters take great pride in the “fact” that their candidate doesn’t take money from corporate interests. He himself has said he doesn’t want PAC money. But he has not been returning the checks from unions.

The National Nurses United, a seven-​year-​old union, has been the biggest donor. According to the New York Times, “The union’s ‘super PAC’ has spent close to $1 million on ads and other support for Mr. Sanders, the Democratic presidential candidate who has inspired liberal voters with his calls to eradicate such outside groups.”

The Sanders crusade has, in fact, benefited from “more super PAC money … than for either of his Democratic rivals, including Hillary Clinton.…”

You will forgive me my growing guffaw.

“I do appreciate the irony,” the union’s executive director told the Times. “All things being equal, we would rather not be doing this. On the other hand, we want to see Bernie as president.”

Bernie doesn’t see the irony, and denies a contradiction. He wants to overturn the Citizens United decision. If that decision allows unions to launder money and soak his cause with it, well, fine. At least he’s not getting his hands dirty like Hillary, who really knows how to milk corporate groups. Bernie benefits from “spontaneous” PAC support.

It is worth remembering that this PAC method, after all, is little more than a consequence of post-​Nixon Era limits on individual campaign contributions. It’s a work-around.

Overturn Citizens United and other work-​arounds will be found.

Meanwhile, Sanders and his followers will continue to live by a double standard: your money, bad; our money, good.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Bernie Sanders, PAC, hypocrisy, donations, illustration

 

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general freedom ideological culture meme moral hazard nannyism too much government

1 Statement… 5 Witless Assumptions

Bernie Sanders, 1 statement, 5 witless assumptions, free, ordinary, rich

Bernie manages to pack quite a lot into one statement…

Click below for a high resolution version of this image:

Bernie Sanders, 1 statement, 5 witless assumptions, free, ordinary, rich

 

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Accountability general freedom ideological culture moral hazard nannyism national politics & policies

Establishment, Always Establishment

Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, primary, election, Common Sense

Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders winning in New Hampshire is as good an indicator as any that Americans — or at least Live Free or Die staters — are tired of the bipartisan Establishment. Victories for a billionaire iconoclast and a self-​designated socialist.

Both are “players” in their distinct ways: the former a publicity-​minded entrepreneur who boasts of having been a briber of politicians, the latter as a long-​term senator with a consistently pro-​government-​growth voting record.

But both are plausibly outsiders, too. Trump speaks off the cuff and in an entertainingly anti-​PC manner, and Sanders proclaims a love of government so strong that he willingly embraces a label with a very negative record throughout the last century.

Indeed, Trump’s many words and Sanders’s One Word serve to negate these two candidates’ “establishment feel.”

But if elected, would either rock the Establishment boat?

Based on his voting record, Sanders is liable to continue the bipartisan “War, Always War” strategy abroad, along with the same domestic policy of “Spend, Always Overspend.”

That is Establishment.

Trump is less of a warmonger than Sanders, oddly enough: The Donald has criticized the Iraq War, argued that Russia should take care of its nearby Syria problem, and offered that China should worry about North Korea … in other words, he can conceive of foreign areas being outside of American purview.

But Trump is as protectionist as Sanders, and loves taking property from private individuals (with “just compensation”) and giving it to developers … like himself. You cannot get more Establishment than that.

Still, New Hampshire voters know something, and that something is undoubtedly that something must change.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, primary, election, Common Sense