EDITORIAL: Authoritarianism, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump
Bernie Sanders made the most of his plum (virtual) speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention on Monday. And why not? It’s his party, now. The rising liberal extremists who found a voice in the socialist from Vermont are on the verge of a takeover. Just take a look at the party platform, a 110-page anti-capitalist manifesto.
It is in front of this backdrop that Sen. Sanders issued his fusillade against Donald Trump, arguing the president is “leading the country down the path of authoritarianism.”
Many of Sen. Sanders’ most ardent fans may not remember the 20th century and one of its defining features: the rise and collapse of communist totalitarianism that racked up a body count near 100 million and impoverished nations across the globe. Sen. Sanders, back in the day, spoke admirably of many of those regimes, including the Soviet Union.
Sen. Sanders may have modified his views over time — he says he now favors the more benign socialism of the small, homogeneous nations of Scandanavia — but it is astonishing for him to accuse President Trump of marching the country toward authoritarianism given his own ideological history.
Who would truly march this country toward authoritarianism? Sen. Sanders and the Democratic platform he inspired would dismantle the economic system that has made the United States the most prosperous nation in world history. It would be replaced with an economy run by bureaucratic planners and redistributionists, in turn ensuring the vast majority of Americans are less free to pursue their own interests and keep the fruits of their own labor
Sen. Sanders insisted that Democrats will promote “democracy.” Yet he and other progressives remain blind to the symbiotic relationship between democracy and economic freedom. While some nations may practice portions of one or the other, and some nations may practice neither, those that seek to offer their citizens the greatest amount of both consistently outperform the others in terms of prosperity and liberty.
“There is an intimate connection between economics and politics, that only certain combinations of political and economic arrangements are possible, and that in particular, a society which is socialist cannot also be democratic, in the sense of guaranteeing individual freedom,” the late Nobel economist Milton Friedman noted. “Economic arrangements play a dual role in the promotion of a free society.”
An erosion of economic freedom, as envisioned by Sen. Sanders and his acolytes, will inevitably be accompanied by an erosion in political freedom. Look no further than the “woke” argument that free speech is a construct of oppression and white privilege. Mr. Trump has his weaknesses. But when it comes to authoritarian tendencies, he’s a piker compared to Bernie Sanders and his Democratic lackeys.
