Do you consider the great Bernie Sanders to be a liberal too?
It’s not really arguable, of course he is a liberal. He supports capitalism and its ideology.
He confuses people by saying that socialism is when you have universal government-funded healthcare and points to places like Norway, which is a capitalist country.
Sanders is a capitalist?
Unless you’ve heard Sanders call for the abolition of private ownership of the means of production, yes, he is a capitalist. At best he’ll say It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism. He’ll never call for an end to it, only mitigations of it.
You ask like this is your first time here :not-sure-if-serious:
People always tell me that Biden is a communist and Bernie’s way left of him so I’m trying to figure it out myself.
People don’t know their asses from their elbows. Liberalism has a definition, which Marxists (and still some liberal Europeans) have never forgotten, though thanks to red scare purges and two cold wars, others have forgotten. Now, in Orwellian fashion, “liberalism” and “socialism” are floating signifiers, so we have liberals like Sanders calling themselves socialists, despite never calling for abolishing private ownership of the means of production.
Wikipedia: socialism: Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership.
Wikipedia: liberalism: Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, right to private property and equality before the law.
“Private property,” a.k.a. “the means of production.”
Where does Democratic socialism fit into that, like those shifty Canadians?
Is that a specific political party, or just a term thrown around?
Usually what people in capitalist countries actually mean is social democracy, also known as the “Nordic model”: capitalism with a social safety net.
Democratic socialism means socialism of some form or another, usually one that isn’t Marxist-Leninist. I don’t think it’s a very well-thought out term, since Marxism-Leninism follows democratic centralism.
Michael Parenti: Left Anticommunism: The Unkindest Cut
