The Triumph of BS: Bernie Sanders and Socialism Have Finagled Their Way into the Mainstream

By Alex Parker | 5:15 PM on February 10, 2020

The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of RedState.com.

Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. acknowledges his supporters on arrival at a campaign rally, Tuesday, March 8, 2016, in Miami. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)

President Bernie Sanders?

How about Democratic Nominee Bernie?

BS is doing strikingly well, according to a Boston Globe/WBZ/Suffolk University poll released Sunday night. Sanders is sockin’ it to ’em with 27%.

(Former) Mayor Pete (who looked up to Bern in high school — here) is trailing with 19.

Here’s more:

This looks like a ~5 point lead for Sanders. He's in a nice position though that's certainly not a safe lead for NH. Klobuchar could pass Biden and/or Warren on Tuesday. Our average:

Sanders 26.0
Buttigieg 20.9
Warren 12.7
Biden 12.3
Klobuchar 9.5https://t.co/nRWOEjafiW pic.twitter.com/Sz6HpVmtZy

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) February 10, 2020

That’s the news, just ahead of Tuesday’s primary vote.

Could Pete stick out his neck and cross the finish line first?

Either way, as I see it, this is extraordinary.

Granted, Joe Biden’s “death spiral” (as expertly covered by RedState’s streiff) is in part a casualty of Impeachment Mania. For some reason, it was decided that torpedoing Joe was completely worth being able to punch Donald Trump in the tensed arm.

Which is to say, if not for his party’s sabotage, Biden would perhaps be topping the heap.

But however we got here, I don’t think it could’ve happened 10 years ago.

From a purely individualist perspective, the trajectory is inspiring: Bernie Sanders stuck to his guns until the culture came around. He walked around touting a beleaguered system for decades (though he didn’t initially use the word).

The problem, of course, is that the system at hand — and a word he certainly uses now — is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad Nazi idea.

Having said that, and respectfully, if I had to guess, Bernie’s lead isn’t so much an indication of the evolving liberalism of the citizenry, but rather a tide of ignorance, in the non-pejorative sense — what percentage of Bernie supporters can define socialism?

It seems to me that, quite ironically, though we have more information at our fingertips than ever before, people don’t necessarily find it important to know what they’re protesting — for or against.

Whatever Bernie’s intention, socialism — again, his word, not mine — removes the right of the individual to own his or her own business. It hands over possession of all products and means of production to the government — that is, the politicians.

Somehow, some non-politicians are championing it. But to put it in Twilight Zone parlance, “It’s a cookbook!”