Bookworm Room

Conservatives deal with facts and reach conclusions; liberals have conclusions and sell them as facts.

“I heard Bernie wants to raise taxes” — you heard right, and it’s going to hurt

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Bernie sanders yellingMy daughter introduced me to a pro-Bernie site called I Like Bernie, But….  There, in response to various concerns voters might have about Bernie (e.g., he’s a socialist or a taxer), the website provides short, pithy, and entirely inaccurate responses aimed at setting those fears to rest.

Because I know that the website appeals strongly to young voters, I created a website called I Don’t Like Bernie, Because… that challenges the misinformation.  Today I challenged the pro-Bernie’ website’s breezy promise that higher taxes on the rich will easily fund Bernie’s spending plans, leaving tons of money left over for everyone else.  Here’s that post:

“I heard he wants to raise taxes” — you heard right, and it’s going to hurt

The new website I Like Bernie, But… tries to calm people’s fears about Bernie Sander’s socialist extremism.  It states questions reflecting concerns that people might have about Bernie, and then provides pithy little answers refuting those fears.

In a previous post, I addressed the myriad falsehoods, omissions, and misconceptions in the website’s assurance that Bernie isn’t a dangerous socialist, he’s a good socialist. This post addresses the misleading answer to a concern that “I heard he [Bernie] wants to raise taxes.”

Here’s what I Like Bernie, But…. has to say about Bernie and taxes:

I Like Bernie But On Taxes

That’s simply false. Here’s the truth:

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I don’t like Bernie because he’s a socialist

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Bernie sanders yelling

[92,000 104,000 116,000 121,000 130,000 142,000 160,000 people and counting.  I must have hit a nerve here….  Welcome to all of you, even the trolls (of whom there are many, and yes, dear trolls, I am ignoring you in the comments section).]

My older Little Bookworm can vote in the upcoming election, so she’s paying a bit of attention to things.  She told me that, on her SnapChat and Facebook pages, all of her friends are mesmerized by Bernie and most of them are getting information from a website called “I Like Bernie, But….”  I checked out the website, didn’t like it, and created my own website called “I Don’t Like Bernie, Because….”  The following is my first post at the new website:

Isn’t Bernie a socialist? Why, yes he is

The website I Like Bernie, But… takes it upon itself to answer concerned readers who ask “Isn’t Bernie a socialist?”  It assures these people that Bernie isn’t a socialist socialist. Instead, he’s a democratic socialist, which the website promises is something entirely different:

Bernie is a democratic socialist

The above conclusions are just wrong, and they’re so very wrong that they need to be corrected and explained in a lot of paragraphs.  Here goes:

To begin with, you need to understand what it really means to be a socialist.  Only then can you understand that putting the word “democratic” in front of “socialist” doesn’t change anything.

So what is a “socialist” system?  Think of the realm of available politics as a line moving from left to right.  On the far left side are totalitarian regimes, which means government has all the control and the people have none.  At the far right side is anarchy, which means there is no government at all, although the resulting chaos usually means that people have no control either.  (Ironically, anarchy usually ends when a strong man takes over and creates a totalitarian regime.)

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