Severe Conservative Delusions: Democratic Socialism Dissembling Edition

Some... intentionally blur the differences between socialism and communism, between democracy and totalitarianism. ... If we could get beyond such nonsense, I think this country could use a good debate about what goes on here compared to places with a long social-democratic tradition like Sweden, Norway and Finland, where, by and large, the middle class has a far higher standard of living than we do ~ Bernie Sanders (dob 9/8/1941) Democratic Socialist and junior United States Senator from Vermont, as quoted from his 4/22/2009 HuffPo article, Socialist Successes.

Welcome to the third post in a planned series chronicling the insane in the membrane rantings emanating from the pie hole of the most severely deluded conservative I have ever encountered; a wacko with the blogger ID of dmarks (real name: Dennis Marks). Previously I refuted these statements where they were made - on the blog of a self-described "Moderate", but no longer can due to the proprietor banning me for being too Liberal for him to tolerate.

In this numero tres commentary I'm going to refute a lying diatribe from dmarks (real name Dennis Marks) in which he misrepresented the political ideology of the Independent senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders. I would also like to push back against Dennis' misrepresentation of Democratic Socialism. The inane dissembling by Mr. Marks was in response to a disturbing post by Willis Hart in which he relates a violent fantasy in which he beats North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un to death with a baseball bat...

Dennis Marks: [Kim Jong Un] is the face of socialism in its purist form. Now that Pol Pot is dead, anyway. But isn't North Korea more advanced according to the standards of the American hard left anyway? After all, it has single-payer healthcare, no corporate (private-sector) mass media, and no profiteering capitalists. Bernie Sanders paradise. (4/22/2013 AT 8:27pm).

North Korea leader Kim Jong Un is a totalitarian dictator, and not "the face of Socialism in its purist form". In regards to North Korea Wikipedia says, "the government follows the Juche ideology of self-reliance, initiated by the country's first President, Kim Il-sung. After his death, Kim Il-sung was declared the country's Eternal President. Juche became the official state ideology, replacing Marxism–Leninism, when the country adopted a new constitution in 1972. In 2009, references to Communism were removed from the country's constitution".

Dennis has a long history of twisting definitions to slander the Left. Socialism is an ideology whose objective is the empowerment of the average citizen, and, it's purest form, is not supposed to primarily benefit a ruling class. Yes, many revolutionaries have promised Socialism, and then not followed thorough on their promises; instead setting themselves and their cronies up as the primary beneficiaries of their new economic system.

The reason this happens, IMO, is because people like the idea of Socialism and they will fight for it. They do not like the idea of being ruled by a small group of wealthy elites, but unfortunately history has shown us that GREED usually always causes the revolutionary leaders to set themselves up as dictators or the heads of a ruling class.

The reason this almost never happens on the right is because the common man wouldn't fight if their leaders, instead of offering them a fair share of the pie (Socialism), said they should fight for a greater share of the pie going to a wealthy elite (plutocracy). Who would fight on behalf of that? Dictators who came to power by LYING to their citizens aren't socialists; they are kleptocrats (thieves)! Lying about giving the people Socialism and then delivering a totalitarian dictatorship is not "Socialism in it's purest form"!

Not that it matters, since North Korea originally identified as Communist, not socialist, and (surprise) the revolutionary leaders reneged and set up the country as a dictatorship. Wikipedia also notes "education in North Korea is universal and state funded, with a CLAIMED national literacy rate of 99%. The country has a national medical service and CLAIMS to offer free healthcare"... notice the two words I capitalized. They CLAIM these things, but do we really believe the literacy rate is 99%? Do we really believe they offer universal healthcare? No! They are LYING. Socialism involves actually delivering on these promises, not false promises and theft of a nation's resources by a ruling class.

Kleptocracy, as defined by Wikipedia, "is a form of political and government corruption where the government exists to increase the personal wealth and political power of its officials and the ruling class at the expense of the wider population", and THIS is what North Korea actually is - a totalitarian dictatorship and a kleptocracy masquerading as a socialistic state.

Not that any of that has anything to do with Bernie Sanders, as he is a Democratic Socialist, which I would define as follows (note that I have rejected sections of the Wikipedia definition)...

Democratic Socialism is a variant of Socialism that rejects centralized, elitist, or authoritarian methods of transitioning from capitalism to socialism [a mixed economy that includes increased socialist elements] in favor of grassroots-level movements aiming for the immediate creation [a gradual transition to a more] decentralized economic democracy. The term is often used by socialists who favor either electoral transition to Socialism or a spontaneous mass revolution from below to distinguish themselves from authoritarian socialists that call for a single-party state, most notably to contrast with Marxist-Leninists and Maoists. Democratic socialists endorse a post-capitalist, socialist [mixed] economic system as an alternative to capitalism. Some Democratic socialists advocate market Socialism based on workplace self-management [cooperatives and worker-owned businesses]...

So, am I guilty of the same sort of terminology redefinition I just accused Dennis of? I say no. My rejection and slight modification of the definition reflects how (I believe) Bernie Sanders views himself as a Democratic Socialist. He would not have run for the House (where he originally served for 16 years) and then the Senate if he did not believe in bringing more Socialism to the United States DEMOCRATICALLY. Also, as Wikipedia points out...

Democratic Socialism is difficult to define, and groups of scholars have radically different definitions for the term. Some definitions simply refer to all forms of Socialism that follow an electoral, reformist or evolutionary path to Socialism, rather than a revolutionary one...

The revolutionary route is rejected because history has shown that it leads to the establishment of a dictatorship or a ruling class of elites (leaders who promised Socialism but delivered kleptocracy). This is the route North Korea followed, and therefore could, in no way be described as a "Bernie Sanders paradise".

And the "hard left" does NOT view North Korea as "more advanced" either. A dictatorship that murders it's own people, imprisons it's citizens in forced labor camps, and allows it's ruling class to live lavishly while the majority of the populace endures extreme poverty and starvation is the exact opposite of what those who advocate for Democratic Socialism desire, Dennis - you stupid lying sack of shit. Greater EQUALITY is their goal.

In fact, countries like North Korea could be described as being "Socialist", but "socialist" in its most perverted form. Democratic Socialists and progressives (the so-called "hard left") stand in opposition to this "form" of "Socialism" (which is actually totalitarianism), as well as the plutocracy deluded stooges like Dennis Marks yearn for.

Supporting Document
Bernie Sanders: Hero Of The Ruling Class, A Greedy Thief Who Is Good At Plundering, DSD #13. (A catalog of Dennis comments re Bernie Sanders. Many of them comparing the VT Senator to dictators like Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, Stalin and Kim Jong-un).

SWTD #136, dDel #6.