You can find my list of 2016 Presidential Candidates here, which I've saved as a page instead of just a post. You can easily get to the list using the link up near the top.
Bernie Sanders
Sanders is another long-time political figure, having served 16 years in the US House and 10 years in the US Senate representing the state of Vermont. He is a self-proclaimed Socialist, a title that he not only accepts with pride, but also loudly proclaims to anyone who wishes to hear. His particular brand of socialism is called Democratic Socialism, and he advocates maintaining our Democratic electoral processes while changing things so that government owns the means of production, i.e. the tools and money to make things.
Economically speaking, Sanders is on the far-left of modern-day liberalism. He wants to dramatically increase taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations, increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, spend another $1 trillion or so to "fix our nation's infrastructure", make college tuition free, expand Social Security taxes by lifting the cap on taxable earnings, morph ObamaCare into a single-payer system, mandate companies provide 15 weeks of mandatory leave of various types with pay, mandate pre-K education programs for all children, and expand union membership by changing laws to favor their easier formation. Taken as a group, this would result in a massive increase in federal spending... theoretically balanced by massive tax increases on the never-reviled-enough "wealthy," though I doubt the new income would cancel out the new spending.
He supports proposals to "fight global warming" by levying hefty taxes on carbon and methane emissions, which would drive up the cost of electricity for all Americans. What programs he advocates that don't directly raise taxes or spend money would have the result of increasing the cost of goods and services... for example, raising the salaries of workers would result in either fewer jobs or higher prices, and probably both.
To put it bluntly, his proposals would dramatically increase both taxes and spending, increase our national debt, and hobble our economy with additional expenses and requirements that would drive some businesses to close, others to curtail growth, and result in even more people losing their job or being unable to find one.
Personally, I could never vote for a candidate who believes it is wrong for you or I to start a business and run it as we see fit to make some money. In his eyes, that is wrong... businesses should be run to benefit society at large, not to generate more wealth for those involved.
Rating: NO WAY!!!
Bernie Sanders and I disagree on just about everything, but it all begins here: Sanders believes that government needs to be larger, more intrusive, and control/influence much more of the private sector than it does today. Whereas I believe that smaller government is better, both for individuals and for society as a whole. His views would, of necessity, make Americans less free than they are today. Individual liberty is a value that I take very seriously, and by that measure he fails to live up to even minimal expectations. Even where he stumbles into a position with which I agree, such as legalizing gay marriage, he wants to get there through massive government regulations and controls.
Sanders supports assault weapon bans, high-capacity magazine bans, universal background checks, mandatory waiting periods, and closing the non-existent "gun show loophole." None of those would reduce crime. The only result they would have is to squeeze and panic law-abiding gun owners, who are, after-all, the people affected by the proposed laws. The vast majority of gun owners will never commit a crime, let alone do so with their gun, but this doesn't seem to matter to people like Sanders. Guns are evil, therefore nobody should own one.
I cannot support Bernie Sanders for President of the United States. Under a Sanders Presidency, individual freedom would wither, the scope and power of government would grow, our national debt would continue to skyrocket, economic freedom would disappear as government controls businesses and corporations, and more Americans would be treated like terrorists for the unforgivable crime of owning guns.
Conclusion: I would never vote for Bernie Sanders for President of the United States.
Update 10/16/15: In the post, I defined "Democratic Socialism," and I think I did so in a fairly concise manner without getting into excessive detail. But this raises the question: What other countries are being run by Democratic Socialists? Unless I missed any, which IS possible, I find six countries currently being governed by Democratic Socialists. Those countries are Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Greece, Peru, and Brazil.
Countries with a Democratic Socialist party that has succeeded in getting people elected but are not in a governing majority include the UK, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Turkey, Serbia, The Netherlands, Germany, Slovenia, Finland, Sweden, Italy, Croatia, and Portugal.
But despite what Texas state GOP Rep. Jason Villalba might think, no, the German Nazi Party was NOT Democratic Socialist. The Nazis were National Socialists, and were actually in opposition to the Socialist Democratic Party (SDP). In fact, the Nazis banned the SDP out of existence in 1933 (see "The Enabling Act"), and it didn't return to the country until after the war.
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Bernie Sanders
Sanders is another long-time political figure, having served 16 years in the US House and 10 years in the US Senate representing the state of Vermont. He is a self-proclaimed Socialist, a title that he not only accepts with pride, but also loudly proclaims to anyone who wishes to hear. His particular brand of socialism is called Democratic Socialism, and he advocates maintaining our Democratic electoral processes while changing things so that government owns the means of production, i.e. the tools and money to make things.
Economically speaking, Sanders is on the far-left of modern-day liberalism. He wants to dramatically increase taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations, increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, spend another $1 trillion or so to "fix our nation's infrastructure", make college tuition free, expand Social Security taxes by lifting the cap on taxable earnings, morph ObamaCare into a single-payer system, mandate companies provide 15 weeks of mandatory leave of various types with pay, mandate pre-K education programs for all children, and expand union membership by changing laws to favor their easier formation. Taken as a group, this would result in a massive increase in federal spending... theoretically balanced by massive tax increases on the never-reviled-enough "wealthy," though I doubt the new income would cancel out the new spending.
He supports proposals to "fight global warming" by levying hefty taxes on carbon and methane emissions, which would drive up the cost of electricity for all Americans. What programs he advocates that don't directly raise taxes or spend money would have the result of increasing the cost of goods and services... for example, raising the salaries of workers would result in either fewer jobs or higher prices, and probably both.
To put it bluntly, his proposals would dramatically increase both taxes and spending, increase our national debt, and hobble our economy with additional expenses and requirements that would drive some businesses to close, others to curtail growth, and result in even more people losing their job or being unable to find one.
Personally, I could never vote for a candidate who believes it is wrong for you or I to start a business and run it as we see fit to make some money. In his eyes, that is wrong... businesses should be run to benefit society at large, not to generate more wealth for those involved.
Rating: NO WAY!!!
Bernie Sanders and I disagree on just about everything, but it all begins here: Sanders believes that government needs to be larger, more intrusive, and control/influence much more of the private sector than it does today. Whereas I believe that smaller government is better, both for individuals and for society as a whole. His views would, of necessity, make Americans less free than they are today. Individual liberty is a value that I take very seriously, and by that measure he fails to live up to even minimal expectations. Even where he stumbles into a position with which I agree, such as legalizing gay marriage, he wants to get there through massive government regulations and controls.
Sanders supports assault weapon bans, high-capacity magazine bans, universal background checks, mandatory waiting periods, and closing the non-existent "gun show loophole." None of those would reduce crime. The only result they would have is to squeeze and panic law-abiding gun owners, who are, after-all, the people affected by the proposed laws. The vast majority of gun owners will never commit a crime, let alone do so with their gun, but this doesn't seem to matter to people like Sanders. Guns are evil, therefore nobody should own one.
I cannot support Bernie Sanders for President of the United States. Under a Sanders Presidency, individual freedom would wither, the scope and power of government would grow, our national debt would continue to skyrocket, economic freedom would disappear as government controls businesses and corporations, and more Americans would be treated like terrorists for the unforgivable crime of owning guns.
Conclusion: I would never vote for Bernie Sanders for President of the United States.
Update 10/16/15: In the post, I defined "Democratic Socialism," and I think I did so in a fairly concise manner without getting into excessive detail. But this raises the question: What other countries are being run by Democratic Socialists? Unless I missed any, which IS possible, I find six countries currently being governed by Democratic Socialists. Those countries are Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Greece, Peru, and Brazil.
Countries with a Democratic Socialist party that has succeeded in getting people elected but are not in a governing majority include the UK, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Turkey, Serbia, The Netherlands, Germany, Slovenia, Finland, Sweden, Italy, Croatia, and Portugal.
But despite what Texas state GOP Rep. Jason Villalba might think, no, the German Nazi Party was NOT Democratic Socialist. The Nazis were National Socialists, and were actually in opposition to the Socialist Democratic Party (SDP). In fact, the Nazis banned the SDP out of existence in 1933 (see "The Enabling Act"), and it didn't return to the country until after the war.