{"id":1515,"date":"2015-11-23T11:29:25","date_gmt":"2015-11-23T10:29:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ounews.co\/?p=1515"},"modified":"2015-11-23T11:29:25","modified_gmt":"2015-11-23T10:29:25","slug":"socialism-is-not-a-dirty-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/arts-social-sciences\/society-politics\/socialism-is-not-a-dirty-word\/","title":{"rendered":"Socialism is not a dirty word: Bernie Sanders really is changing US democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"

After months of expectation, US senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has at last given what might be remembered as one of the landmark speeches of the 2016 election: an explanation and defence<\/a> of his position as a \u201cdemocratic socialist\u201d.<\/p>\n

Linking his beliefs to revered figures from US history such as Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Martin Luther King Jr, he attempted to show that socialism was not just a \u201croute to economic fairness<\/a>\u201d but also \u201cessential to American values<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

Perhaps most importantly, it provided Sanders with another opportunity to present his socialist ideas to a national audience, something that was once almost unthinkable in modern US politics.<\/p>\n

Long demonised in American electoral politics, \u201csocialism” seems to be resonating with many Americans<\/a> upset by the country\u2019s deepening economic inequality and insecurity \u2013 and it has the potential to expand the limits American democracy.<\/p>\n

Sanders has surprised the political establishment by becoming a serious nominee for president. Most assumed that a socialist was simply \u201cunelectable<\/a>\u201d. Even left leaning politicians who share his views, like Democratic congressman Alcee Hastings lament<\/a>:<\/p>\n

No matter how well you think of Bernie \u2013 and all of us do \u2026 when the politics of it all hits the road, I don\u2019t feel \u2013 and I feel most members don\u2019t feel \u2013 that he can be elected.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Meanwhile, conservatives warn that his victory would \u201ctransform the nation<\/a>\u201d to be almost completely \u201ccontrolled\u201d by the government, or dismiss his proposals as a dangerous economic fantasy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For many on the left, the goal was always to drag near-inevitable nominee<\/a> Hillary Clinton \u201cto the left<\/a>\u201d. Their hope was include progressive ideas within mainstream political discourse with the hope of spurring a leftist populist movement<\/a>. Sanders himself declared that winning matters less than creating a \u201cpolitical revolution<\/a>\u201d against the \u201cbillionaire class\u201d.<\/p>\n

#feelthebern<\/h2>\n

The historic importance of Sanders\u2019s campaign goes beyond winning or losing. He is reviving a long dormant American socialist tradition, updating the legacy of past leftist politicians like Eugene Debs<\/a>. The real test is whether he can \u201ckeep socialism alive<\/a>\u201d in a political culture that until recently considered these ideals irrelevant.<\/p>\n

In this year\u2019s first Democratic debate, when asked directly if a socialist could win the White House, he responded<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Well, we\u2019re gonna win because first, we\u2019re gonna explain what democratic socialism is. And what democratic socialism is about is saying that it is immoral and wrong that the top one-tenth of 1% in this country own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90%.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Despite the media pundits praising Clinton\u2019s performance, various online polls showed<\/a> that most people felt that Sanders had actually won the debate.<\/p>\n

In this latest speech Sanders attempted to fully set out what he means by democratic socialism. In his words<\/a>: \u201cDemocratic socialism means that we must reform a political system that is corrupt, that we must create an economy that works for all, not just the very wealthy\u201d.<\/p>\n