Can a Democratic Socialist win the U.S. presidential election? Upstate scholars weigh in By Luke Perry
Can a Democratic Socialist win the U.S. presidential election? Does Bernie Sanders represent the next cycle of American history?
“Not right now,” Tara Ross, Professor of History at Onondaga Community College, told Ivory Tower on WCNY. Americans want universal healthcare and tuition free college, but the problem is “when you get to the economics of it,” and people’s taxes go up, that becomes difficult politically.
Lisa Dolak, Professor of Law at Syracuse University, said it is also “the specter of the government providing all these services that concern some people.”
Medicare for All has received strong support in polls, even when respondents are told their taxes will increase. This support falls significantly when paired with the elimination of private health insurance coverage.
This helps explain Medicare for All Who Want It, Pete Buttigeig’s alternative to Sanders.
Sanders contends health insurance coverage should no longer be a profit-driven enterprise and a single payer system will ensure coverage of all citizens and lower healthcare costs, both of which are the norm in other Western democracies.
Kristi Andersen, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, thinks Sanders’ political views are not as unusual as they may appear on the surface. “What Sanders is proposing is what (Franklin) Roosevelt said in 1944,” when he called for an Economic Bill of Rights.
This included, according to Roosevelt, “the right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health,” as well as “the right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment.”
Andersen noted how these perspectives dominated U.S. political thinking during 1930’s and 1940’s. The difference today is how the Democratic Party shifted rightward over the course of the twentieth century.
“Bill Clinton was trying to get elected in the Reagan period,” explained Tim Byrnes, Professor of Government at Colgate University, which required a certain amount of support for Wall Street and opposition to welfare.
“Those days are long since over” for the Democratic Party, said Byrnes.
Photo by Paul Richards (AFP)
Byrnes thinks Bernie Sanders reflects the Democratic Party platform much of the last century and how most of Northern Europe governs itself, where happiness ratings are much higher than in the United States. The problem is that Sanders tries to present himself “as a unique, radical socialist, which he is not.”
Sanders has developed a double-digit lead in recent national polling after performing well in Iowa and New Hampshire. Analysts widely believe he is well positioned to compete throughout the primary, but he may not be able to win enough delegates to secure the nomination at the national party convention.
Following today’s Nevada caucus, and the South Carolina primary next week, one-third of all delegates will be at stake on Super Tuesday (March 3).
Luke Perry (@PolSciLukePerry) is Professor of Government at Utica College
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