Originally published at: OF COURSE! Bernie Says Soviet Union, Venezuela Don’t ‘Count’ as Failed Socialist Experiments | Sean Hannity
2020 Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders threw his his full support for “socialist” improvements in the American system this week; telling The Daily Show that the Soviet Union and Venezuela are not good examples of failed socialist experiments.
“Obviously, Soviet Union was an authoritarian society with no democratic rights, and I think if you know history, you know the democratic socialists fought and stood up against that,” the 2020 Democratic hopeful said.
“You can look at what existed in the Soviet Union or Venezuela, that is not what I’m talking about at all,” he added.
“If what you say in life is, ‘all I want to do is as much money as I possibly can and screw everything else, I don’t give a damn,’ then no, I don’t think democratic socialism is your cup of tea,” he said.
“But if you have a decent heart and say ‘look, I’m doing really well, but I also want to be a contributor to the wellbeing of society, so I’m going to pay my fair share of taxes.’”
A new poll released last month shows a whopping 43% of Americans think “socialism” would be a “good thing” for America.
“Americans today are more closely divided than they were earlier in the last century when asked whether some form of socialism would be a good or bad thing for the country. While 51% of U.S. adults say socialism would be a bad thing for the country, 43% believe it would be a good thing. Those results contrast with a 1942 Roper/Fortune survey that found 40% describing socialism as a bad thing, 25% a good thing and 34% not having an opinion,” reports Gallup.
The surprising survey comes as countless Democratic presidential candidates -such as Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker, and others- press for massive federal spending programs like Medicare for All.
Senator Warren has routinely called for a universal childcare program, free healthcare, and tuition-free college for all Americans during her 2020 campaign.
Senator Elizabeth Warren outlined her plan last month to offer free college tuition to all Americans while forgiving pre-existing student loan debt; admitting the expensive proposal would likely cost $1.25 trillion over the next decade.
“We got into this crisis because state governments and the federal government decided that instead of treating higher education like our public school system — free and accessible to all Americans — they’d rather cut taxes for billionaires and giant corporations and offload the cost of higher education onto students and their families,” writes Warren.
“Experts estimate my debt cancellation plan creates a one-time cost to the government of $640 billion. The Universal Free College program brings the total cost of the program to roughly $1.25 trillion over ten years,” she adds.
