For the love of other people's money

The problem with socialism, Margaret Thatcher observed, is that eventually you run out of other people’s money. This seems very obvious, but the siren song of other people’s money hums just under the surface of most political campaigns, and occasionally rings out loud and clear. The Bernie Sanders campaign marks the first time a declared socialist running for president has polled in double-digits since, perhaps, Eugene Debs won almost 6 percent of the popular vote in 1912. Debs ran as a socialist, however, while Sanders (who produced an amateur documentary about Debs in 1971) is running for the Democratic nomination. And he might get it. If he does, it will be past time for a serious examination of other people’s money.

It shouldn’t be surprising: The strongest, loudest, most passionate constituency for the 74-year-old U.S. senator from Vermont is 20- and 30-year-olds. They may not be literally swooning, as Barack Obama supporters did back in 2008, but they are feverishly tweeting and posting Bernie quotes and Bernie clips, and claiming he’s America’s last hope (or failing that, her best option).

Sanders offers sincerity and simplicity. He doesn’t appear to be a waffler. He embraced socialist views in high school. At the University of Chicago he joined the People’s Socialist league. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a socialist in 1990 and retained that identity when running for the Senate in 2006 (an election he won by a 2-to-1 margin). Sanders is not for something one day and against it the next. What you saw then is what you see now.

As for simplicity, all of his positions can be explained in 30 seconds or less and ring all the right bells among his constituency. Raise taxes on the top 1 percent—check. Invest in infrastructure jobs—check. Adopt measures to reverse global warming—check. Subsidize childcare and early education—check. Single-payer healthcare for all—check. Free college for all qualified students (funded by a 50 cent tax on $100 of stock trades, plus other investment taxes)—check. The last two appeal especially to recent college graduates who are staring wide-eyed at the massive loans coming due. Young people are by and large in a financial bind, and most of them have been educated in a left-leaning school system that defines capitalism as inequality. Young evangelicals are not immune, especially when Sanders (a proud but non-observant Jew) punctuates his stump speech with Bible quotes like Amos 5:24.

For those reasons, Sanders is no joke. He may even be the Democrats’ only viable option if Hillary Clinton continues to flounder. Could he win a general election? Politically speaking, no, if he doesn’t have the party apparatus behind him. But if the youth vote shows up, it could happen. Young people are not becoming more conservative, they’re becoming more liberal, and obviously they’re not scared by the word “socialist.” Conservatives need to ask them some hard questions and stay for the answers, such as: Are social services improved when the government takes over? Does financial inequality always equal injustice? And especially: Do you have a right to other people’s money?