“I’ll tell you what I believe in terms of democratic socialism,” said Bernie Sanders (D-VT), 78, and Democratic candidate in differentiating his conception of democratic socialism from that of Venezuela.
“I agree with what goes on in Canada and in Scandinavia — guaranteeing healthcare to all people as a human right, said Business Insider. “I believe the United States should not be the only major country not to offer paid family leave or medical leave.”
After watching the third Democratic debate last month in Houston, Texas, I could not help but think that Sanders was the clear winner.
Sanders was the first candidate to advocate for free health care. Unlike Sanders, Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) said in the debate that she would have public and private options for healthcare, which only shows that she is not a candidate for the people but corporations.
Sanders was also consistent throughout. When asked about the Iraq War, Sanders said he was against it from the beginning. He said that he “never believed what Bush and Cheney said about Iraq,” chiding fellow Democratic nominee and former Vice President of the United States Joe Biden who voted in favor of the Iraq War, but has since tried to distance himself from his original stance, NPR reported.
In addition, the other contenders for the nomination all said that they want to defeat the incumbent, President Donald Trump, but I fail to see how any of their policies reflect the needs and preferences of the American people. Sanders seems to have an answer. As Sanders told Biden the Washington Post reports, “To be clear, Joe, in the United States of America, we are spending twice as much per capita on health care as the Canadians or any other major country on earth.” He also referenced many polls that state that Medicare for All is the most efficient way to save money, and that 500,000 Americans are going bankrupt because of a medical emergency.
Sanders also has the advantage of having strong policy positions in other areas of politics. He had an F from the NRA which demonstrates his position against guns, supports free college, wiping out student loan debt, ending the wars in the Middle East and elsewhere, and efforts to take money out of politics.
I believe this is why Sanders has more support from the American people. In addition to already being well-known, he was the first Democratic candidate to shift the Democratic Party to the left on so many of these issues.
As for the other candidates like Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) and Andrew Yang, they seem to piggy-back off Sanders’s policies. Granted some of them do have their own policy ideas like Andrew Yang’s UBI and Gabbard’s push to end the wars, but many simply advocate for measures that go according to Bernie Sanders’ policy propositions.
Some like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are merely reliant on their slogans and put forth incomplete policy proposals, not solutions.
For example, during the debate, Biden stated how he knows a lot about cancer and that “We need to find a solution now.” What kind of candidate running for president says that? If Biden is running for president, he needs to have a solution in mind for the American people, ask for them for one.
Unlike Sanders, many of the other candidates also have a lot of personal baggage. For instance, Biden has kept a lot of skeletons in his closet, including corruption and racism. Then there is Harris who wanted to keep an innocent person in jail and has many instances of corruption on her record. In contrast, Sanders has a clean reputation, and I believe he can unite the nation and win in 2020.
