Is It the Socialism or the Burn?

I’d love to interview one of the youthful supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders.

As a baby boomer, their enthusiasm for the tropes of socialism fascinates me. Is it merely populist fever, or is there something substantive they see that attracts? I wonder because, having served in the Cold War, it’s unimaginable to me that our nation would surrender now to the ideology against which so many defended with their lives over the last 75 years.

My hope is that their passion is not for Sanders’ socialist solutions, but for his progressive critique. That distinction matters immensely but it’s easy for it to become fuzzy when the urgent thing is to make space for regular folks to make a living.

It’s easy to forget that socialism is not an economic theory opposed to capitalism, but a political ideology opposed to our particular form of representative democracy. In lieu of our constitutionally mandated republican form, led by three independent branches accountable to the citizens, its variants drive toward a communitarian ideal led by a less accountable technocratic elite. Socialism asks us to lower the bar on freedom in exchange for its distinctive vision for an egalitarian society.

That’s why I’d like to understand what animates Sanders’ supporters. Are they enthused by the socialist vision for an omnipotent centralized government that would both define and enforce their version of equality? Alternatively, are they lifting up a progressive critique, asserting the illegitimacy of current leaders because our government has failed to manifest equal concern for all the people?

It easy to understand why and how socialism seduces. When our order turns to disorder and when the many live paycheck to paycheck, serving the few in their gilded mansions, we yearn for things to be set right. At such times, we’re willing to bargain away our freedom in exchange for immediate deliverance, here and now.

Such was the case with the Hebrews about three millennia ago. Their leaders were corrupt, profiting at the expense of the people and perverting justice (1 Sam 8:3). The people yearned for legitimate leadership, and so they asked God to anoint a king who would deliver them.

Samuel urged them instead to preserve their freedom by acknowledging only their heavenly king. If God gives you a human king, then he’ll conscript your sons for his armies and his fields, take your daughters to manage his household, take your fields, grain, and livestock, and “then you yourselves will become his slaves!” (1 Sam 8:11–18). And, of course, that’s exactly what happened.

Socialism exploits our yearning for deliverance in the moments in which we’ll embrace any savior. In lieu of a king, it elevates an oligarchy or a technocratic elite. As both Samuel and the sages of the ages warned, any government we turn to as savior is the enemy of freedom.

My hope is that the folks enthralled by Sanders get this, that they are not in fact seduced by socialist ideology, and that, instead, he simply gives voice to their angry indictment of our leaders. If that’s the case, then what we are witnessing across the political spectrum, expressed too often boorishly and xenophobically, may be the people governing just as the Founders hoped: contesting government by our leaders which they find to be too often partial, capricious, and paternalistic.

Some say both major parties have shifted to the left. But I wonder if pundits misread the moment. Perhaps we’re moving closer to the center, broadening it, demanding a more inclusive America that favors no particular group and strives to provide every citizen with an equal opportunity to flourish.

If you know one of those Sanders’ youth, ask.

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