“If you can’t head it off, head it up.” In other words, if a social movement is heading in a direction you don’t like, get out in front and change the direction.
If Hillary didn’t do anything else for America, she gave exposure to the drastic shift in Democratic politics as her policy stance on each issue became clear. She alone probably doubled the use of the term “neoliberal” in political discourse. Some pretty savvy political analysts have broken down her campaign and that of Trump and come to the conclusion that Trump, although vaguely and dishonestly, beat her from her left except on immigration.
Many Democrats currently running are opportunists looking to take advantage of Trump’s unpopularity among anyone who isn’t a white nationalist Nazi sympathizer with no moral compass. However, behind their seeming socialist rhetoric, they are all, with the exception of Bernie, loyal to the third-way market-centered economic philosophy that Hillary paid homage to.
Bernie plays the class envy game when it comes to taxation if he is asked “how will you pay for it” concerning andy of his policies, but he knows that is not how things get done at the federal level. Note that no one ever asked Trump how he would pay for any of the wars he continues in spite of promising to end imperialism, or his massive tax cut gift to the wealthy. Those things just get paid for as part of the assumed cost of running our country. It is only when something that benefits the people is proposed that talking heads wake up to the “payfor” alarm, including Nancy Pelosi. This is the moat surrounding the neoliberal’s castle that must be defended, with boiling oil and accusations of socialism if necessary.
Bernie knows this is false (from conversations with his econ advisor) but has a ready list of generally unpopular people and companies to point at to avoid turning his campaign into an economics course. He simply wants to convey the message that he has that figured out and the majority will like it. Most of his list needs to be taxed much more because they have too damn much money and threaten our democratic process by purchasing our government anyway. However, his actual plan goes much deeper than that, especially on the issue of single-payer.
It is Bernie’s intention to not only provide comprehensive healthcare free to citizens at the point of delivery, but to make such a “right”, just as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are considered rights. Once that takes place, the federal government will have an “obligation” to protect that right and cannot simply cut benefits or funding when Republicans are in power. The part of this that knots the knickers of the left is that “rights” are also extended to the wealthy, even those more than capable of paying their own healthcare costs.
Once government-paid healthcare becomes just another line item of the non-discretionary budget there is no longer a debate possible around how we “pay for” it and it will quickly become assumed to be available to everyone. No more profiteering from fine print or bogus plans that do not actually pay for anything but the most extreme of cases, and still leaves the patient bankrupt. No more preferential treatment of large employers over small mom and pop stores that hinder seeking the best employees. No more workers anchored in miserable jobs to preserve their healthcare plan.
Single-payer healthcare is the most people empowering issue Bernie could take on, but it is just a piece of his long term agenda. He is the polar opposite of the definition of a neoliberal and has been all of his life. Forget any polling at this point, and look instead to who is setting the agenda and tone for the policies of every Democratic candidate. They know who the leader is. Even those in disagreement are forced to discuss his agenda, just as the media cannot avoid it.
