Bernie Sanders Offers Advice to Defend His Brand of Socialism at Thanksgiving

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) tweeted a video this week advising his supporters who are worried about fighting over politics around the Thanksgiving dinner table, particularly defending his version of socialism.

Sanders tweeted a video on Tuesday, giving advice to supporters who are worried about getting into a political argument around the dinner table. The socialist senator told his supporters that they should simply tell skeptical family members that they – they being Sanders supporters – are not fighting for “new values.”

“If you’re going home and, you know, getting nervous about arguing with your mom or your dad or your aunt or your uncle, I think the point to be made is that we are fighting for, the values that we are fighting for, are really not new values,” he said as part of his campaign podcast, Feel the Bern.

“I mean, they go back literally thousands of years,” he continued, citing the Golden Rule:

“The right that we treat others the way we want to be treated – not a Bernie Sanders idea. I mean, that’s an idea that has been around every religion, major religion on Earth,” he said, failing to note how the Golden Rule addresses the mounting concerns surrounding the details of his grandiose redistribution plans, which will cost American taxpayers trillions of dollars.

He continued:

And, I think people, if you talk to them, understand or they’re going to have a hard time explaining why it is okay for three people to own more wealth than the bottom half of America and why some of these corporations pay nothing in taxes. There are some people who will defend it. Not many. Should health care be available to all people as a human right? You know what? A lot of people believe that. Should you pay people a living wage and not have people work for starvation wages, $8-$9 an hour?

As a cherry on top, Sanders suggested that the overarching argument could be encompassed by noting that they are trying to save the planet from sheer destruction.

“And I’ll tell you another issue where we are making huge progress. People are now seeing with their own eyes the ravages and destruction that climate change is bringing,” he said.

“We are literally, underline ‘literally,’ fighting for the future of this planet and for our kids and our grandchildren,” he added, touting the Green New Deal and asserting that the $16 trillion program is the “only” thing that “can begin to address this crisis.”

Sanders’ advice, however, fails to address many of the concerns surrounding his plans and implies that those who disagree with his position fundamentally oppose the Golden Rule, which some believe could lead to increased tension around the dinner table.

“It’s not just that I disagree with Donald Trump on virtually everything but that most people are not proud that you have a pathological liar, or somebody who thinks he is above the law, on top of being a racist and a sexist and a homophobe and a xenophobe,” Sanders added, suggesting that “decent conservatives out there” are “a little bit embarrassed about this president.”