by Wayne Besen • October 21, 2015 • Lies with a Straight Face • Comments (0) • 4402

What Is Democratic Socialism? The Issue is Explored in-Depth on The Wayne Besen Show

Donald Trump threw down the gauntlet when he called Sen. Bernie Sanders a “socialist-slash-communist.” Bernie Sanders is planning a major speech to rebut the myths and outright McCarthyist smears. In reality, Sanders is a Democratic Socialist who actually endorses regulated capitalism. The New York Times explored this issue on Tuesday. According to the Times:

The weirdest thing about this fight is that Mr. Sanders, a Vermont senator, is not really a socialist. Or at least, if he is a socialist, he is also, at the same time, a capitalist.

“I think Bernie Sanders’s use of the word ‘socialism’ is causing much more confusion than it is adding value,” said Lane Kenworthy, a professor of sociology at the University of California at San Diego. Mr. Kenworthy, who recently wrote a book called “Social Democratic America” and thinks about these sorts of things for a living, offered a suggestion: “He is, if you want to put it this way, a democratic socialist capitalist.”

The Wayne Besen Show interviewed Kenworthy to further discuss the meaning of Democratic Socialism, as well as what the controversial label means for the Sanders campaign.