Looking at the Democrat Party of March 2020, in the midst of a heated primary season, I see so many parallels to our own struggle in 2016. There are (and were) a diverse spectrum of candidates who represented one demographic or another stitched into the blanket covering the Democrat base.
From Beto’s “Hell yes we are going to take your AK’s and AR’s” to Tulsi’s anti-war position, from Uncle Joe’s nostalgic throwback to the Obama era to Bloomberg’s regulatory micromanagement of our daily lives, from Pete’s Unitarian religious beliefs to Warren’s womanhood, each holds appeal for certain factions within the party’s membership.
However, the juggernaut — the ballast tethering the Democrat Party to Communism, Bernie Sanders — remains the unrestrained and unfiltered dark horse…again. He is unabashedly Socialist and that is the problem. His approach of bypassing the Progressive steps meant to ease the people into a collectivist utopia has the potential to unravel all gains made toward that end.
It is not that Bernie is wrong about the future of the Democrat Party but in their view, he is simply too aggressive about it. He does not conceal his Intentions or hide behind a veil of rhetoric. He means exactly what he says. The Democrat apparatus, long known for advancing their agenda in the shadows, through appellate courts, an entrenched bureaucratic regulatory system and attaching language to otherwise “appealing” legislation in order to deepen the progressive foundations they have spent a century building upon, is uncomfortable with such honesty.
It is no wonder the DNC used its resources to suppress the Sanders campaign in 2016. He was the anti-establishment candidate to Hillary’s status quo. He was the naked Socialist to Hillary’s subtle, patient, Progressivism. It is also no surprise the DNC is, once again, mobilizing to stop Bernie from sweeping the party away on a wave of hard line Socialism.
The current state of Democrat aspirations for the White House is playing out in true political fashion. Ideology aside, the real threat Bernie poses in 2020 is a loss to Donald Trump. Fear of loss has the remaining candidates suspending campaigns and dropping out of the race. Without doubt, agreements are being meted out and assurances are being secured. These candidates are so fearful of a Sanders loss that they have fallen on their swords to stop him. Steyer, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Bloomberg and now Warren have left the race, hoping to steer their own supporters in Biden’s direction.
The timing could not be more critical. Super Tuesday has given Biden a negligible lead in Delegate counts (Biden – 548/Sanders – 484). The upper echelons of the Democrat Party have united behind Biden; a stable candidate and a safe bet but his status as clear front runner is far from certain. Is this unification against Bernie going to succeed or is it too little, too late?
What Is Everyone Afraid of?
A Bernie Sanders presidential run would be confronted with a past full of significant warning signs accompanied by radical views and Leninist rhetoric. What he promises is vastly different than what he will be able to deliver…if allowed to (remember, he has to have our permission). He promises services free of price but not free of cost. There is a difference.
Free Education:
Student debt seems to be a crisis of the time for a broad spectrum of young people setting out in life. Seriously, who wants to be shackled to $50-70,000.00 as soon as they leave college without a stable means of paying for it? It is a great question, since every man, woman and child in America owes that as their portion of the national debt (ThanQ Democrats and Republicans alike). With the quality of education diminishing in near direct proportion to its rising cost, there is little more than a piece of paper widely regarded by society as a testament to knowledge and wisdom, to show for the financial bondage necessary to obtain it.
As with any failed system that has no viable competition, the people inevitably turn to the government for solutions. Here, Bernie resonates with the youth. With state funding, comes state run education. All pretense will be cast aside to reveal the inherent bias and agenda that has long possessed academia. This is typically followed by a severe filtering process that ensures only those most worthy will reach a proper level of higher learning to the discouragement of the rest.
Free Healthcare:
Just the other day, I saw an article proclaiming Trump’s agenda for his next term will include a full repeal of DC Care (where have we heard that before?). The more likely scenario is he will increase funding for it, ensuring it is in place for the next Democrat president to expand it.
If Bernie wins, Universal Healthcare will be implemented. With the integration of government and the healthcare profession, we have already seen an exponential increase in the amount of red tape and an abundance of policies to verify compliance with Federal statutes. In my experience, one of the greatest travesties of contemporary healthcare is the sterilization of the doctor/patient relationship coupled with the almost adulterous bond between the doctor and insurance company.
With the advent of Universal Healthcare will come the elimination of insurance companies. The DHS will assume their role. Once that transition occurs, you will no longer be paying for the insurance or the healthcare so there will be no one apart from yourself with any interest in your own well-being. This places the patient in the least influential role between the three parties.
Let’s not forget another factor that parallels deeper government involvement in the medical industry, Pain Management. Who can forget this ominous quote by then President Obama: “We as a culture and as a society [can start] to make better decisions within our own families and for ourselves, at least we can let doctors know and your mom know that, you know what? Maybe this isn’t going to help. Maybe you’re better off not having the surgery, but taking the painkiller.” It proved to be just as unreliable as his vacant assurance, “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.” The painkiller is frequently pulled from our menu of options.
How doctors view pain is through a formula, a graph, that portrays a patient in the abstract. As anyone with chronic pain can attest, the necessary steps to obtain a therapeutic dose of pain medication are impossible to comply with. Between forms, dosage restrictions, drug tests, frequent assessments and painful (and repeated) trips to the pharmacy only to get a partial refill, there are few areas where a person becomes more compliant than in matters concerning pain. The doctor’s disconnect will develop into a chasm if infiltrated by absolute government control. Under the pretense of combating the Opioid crisis, police are even stationed in Pain Management clinics (at least where I live). Any semblance of compassion that exists will, of necessity, be abandoned as decisions will be increasingly taken out of the hands of healthcare professionals and placed squarely in the hands of sequestered panels.
Democratic Elections:
Should the states up-end the Electoral College, it would represent the most significant blow to our representative republic since the 17th Amendment eliminated state level representation in the Senate. It will also remove another obstacle to majority rule…a highly coveted prize in the eyes of Democrats. Since 2016, there has been a surge of momentum to remove the Electoral College from our voting process. This would result in Democrat victories for decades (if they can remain relevant) by giving states like New York and California, states of high population that often vote blue, control of elections by sheer force of numbers.
States like Iowa, Nevada, Utah, Alaska and Idaho would be rendered irrelevant in both political view and representation. No one would campaign there. Their presidential primaries would have no effect on an election’s outcome. If that were to occur, then America’s cornerstone of individual liberty will fall pretty much on the whim and will of the majority in the form of direct democracy. The last fail safe of our representative Republic will have been removed.
Other Qualifiers:
Sanders believes in the undeniable right of women to choose an abortion. He would fight with every government resource at his disposal to uphold Roe vs Wade. He has gone so far as to say, Pro-Life Democrats represent an intolerable paradox that has no place in his party. Furthermore, he believes this fundamental right should be funded by government through current healthcare statutes as well as his proposed final solution…universal healthcare.
Bernie’s only Achilles Heel appears to be a weak voting record on gun control. That is not to say he does not favor it. It simply means he has not been aggressively orthodox on the topic. That being said, he has begun to pander to the gun control crowd (pretty much the whole of the party), in his latest campaign. He believes women have a Constitutional right to choose abortion but men should not have a Constitutional right to a gun.
He has shifted slightly to the Democrat mainstream on some topics while remaining adamant about other fringe elements that maintain his radical status. He is a Communist. He is an absolutist on the subject of wealth redistribution. He wants government to increase control over the people. He sees individualism as a threat to this country and the collective needs of the multitude. He embodies the final destination of progressive thought and has the boldness to declare it openly.
He lacks patience for the pace of the Progressive Movement and this endears him to the youth. Being groomed by the public education system to look at collectivism as the path forward, they believe his is the fastest vehicle to get them there. Being all too eager to harness their passion, he just opens the door, and with his big toothy grin, invites them to transform America.
Eric Buss is an avid reader and studies history, military, philosophy and politics.
Eric considers himself a Christian Conservatarian.
