The 2020 presidential election is shaping up to be a battle of ideas, a conflict between two diametrically opposed ideologies. On the Right, President Donald Trump will be responsible for defending the fundamental principles which underpin not only the current booming economy, but the success of the United States historically - the notions of individualism, free market capitalism, and the virtues of personal responsibility combined with a strong work ethic. On the Left, it looks increasingly likely that Bernie Sanders will have successfully usurped the Democratic platform in his life-long goal to promote his personal brand of “Democratic Socialism,” otherwise known as Communism in a lovable ill-fitting suit.
While some may draw parallels between the current political face-off and what could have been in 2016 had Hillary Clinton not lined the pockets of the DNC, the two elections are actually completely different. In 2016, we were presented with the opportunity to choose between two prospective sets of ideas as the Obama administration came to a welcome end. In 2020, however, we are being presented with a choice between the continuation of the Trump administration’s proven record and the Left’s list of utopian promises in the form of radical collectivist societal overhauls.
This is why the Democrats’ potential selection of Bernie Sanders as their representative could spell disaster for their hopes of overturning Donald Trump. While the radical Left delight in Sanders’s calls for the nationalization of every aspect of American society, there are many citizens who will not be drawn so easily into the fairytale, and will question whether the reality of the United States under Donald Trump is worth sacrificing for the promises of a man who has never provided any value for the country.
Because, in all reality, that is the decision facing independent or moderate Democratic voters if Sanders wins the Democratic nomination. Regardless of one’s opinion of Trump as an individual, the successes of his administration are clear for all to see. This leaves the Democrats with the unenviable task of arguing that Sanders’ brand of armchair socialism would be anything other than an immediate economic disaster for the country.
For his supporters, Sanders’s consistency is one of his best political assets. He’s promoted the same set of ideas, motivated by either determination or ignorance, for his entire political life. In our current age of valuing political purity over all else, this is an exciting attribute for many voters. However, the problem for the Left is that Sanders’s consistency spreads beyond his political viewpoints. It also includes his abject inability to actually deliver anything substantive beyond his vague calls for revolution.
Not only has Bernie Sanders failed to produce anything concrete for the benefit of society, he has also joined the ever-growing class of hypocrites who manage to enrich themselves while riding the wave of class warfare. For someone who believes that the United States is not the land of opportunity and that wealth is the root of all evil, Bernie should probably explain how he managed to become a millionaire with three homes as a humble servant of the state.
The truth is that Bernie Sanders is not the hero his supporters claim him to be. He’s a lazy political parasite who has managed to hijack the Democratic Party and drag the evil ideology of anti-American collectivism into the mainstream. Up against the undeniable victories of the Trump administration, the Vermont Senator is nothing other than a useless man with old ideas. Old ideas which should again be crushed by American exceptionalism.