In politics it is often the messenger–and not the message itself–that is most important. That has pretty much been the basis for the Bernie Sanders campaign–which finally appears to be running out of steam following a decisive loss in New York last week. But just imagine if the other candidates in the race had been calling for the very same entitlements and benefits as Sanders–just not as a former hippie who should be yelling at people in a park somewhere.
Take for instance if Donald Trump went to every one of his rallies and told people that the Federal Government should pay for his grandchildren’s college education. “My grandkids–who are very great by the way, geniuses who probably could be teachers at the colleges but that’s besides the point–should be going to college for free because that is only fair”. People on the left would be going insane with rage that a self-declared billionaire wanted to take money “desperately needed for education” to fund his own grandkids college.
Or imagine if Senator Ted Cruz told his rallies that the Federal Government should foot the bill for his kids’ daycare expenses while he and his wife criss-cross the country trying to win the nomination. “We can’t have that cost keeping us away from doing God’s work!” Again, liberals would howl that such resources would be wasted on someone as rich as Cruz and his wife.
Perhaps Hillary Clinton should have told her supporters that is it her right to have taxpayers cover the costs of going to the hospital if she happens to fall off the stage after giving a $250,000 speech to Goldman-Sachs executives and hurts herself again. The usual bored silence of her rallies would be replaced by low boos and hisses from the crowd. Chelsea Clinton could also demand that the Clinton Foundation be required by law to continue to pay her multi-million dollar salary while she takes six months of maternity leave from whatever non-job she actually has with the Foundation.
And House Speaker Paul Ryan could introduce a bill that would increase his Social Security benefits and allow him to collect those benefits even earlier without a reduction in those levels over the course of his retirement. “There is no need for someone like me to continue to work beyond the age of 57–especially after having to work so hard for as many years as I have”. Protesters at the Capitol wouldn’t be able to paint their “Greed” signs fast enough.
While those other politicos aren’t saying the same things as Bernie Sanders–they will be getting those same exact benefits. A number of studies find that it will be rich kids that benefit the most from “free college educations” and it is the rich that will get most of the money when Social Security benefits are increased. That is because Sanders’ Socialist plans are not means-based–everyone gets them whether they need the benefits or not (and that is mainly because if there was means-testing for free college, most of the white kids packing Sanders rallies would still find themselves paying for college–which kind of defeats the whole “I’m getting something out of this” vibe upon which he relies). But just think about those other candidates saying the same things when the Bernie Bros go on about “fairness and equality”.
