Don’t Pretend Bernie Isn’t A Communist, He Still Praises And Defends Communist Dictators

Something I find strikingly odd on Twitter is the amount of people who support Bernie but claim that he is not a communist. The reason I find it so odd is because it’s not like the guy hides it and has even said to high school students in 1972: “I don’t mind people coming up and calling me a Communist.”
 
He most often describes himself as a socialist or democratic socialist (as though they are in any way different from communism) mostly because younger people actually believe socialism is a good thing (because they do not know what it actually is and think it relates to social media or being active in your community). But he does not mind people calling him a communist, which is good because he definitely is one.
 
Which is why I am not even a little bit surprised that, while on a “60 Minutes” interview with Anderson Cooper, he defended prior praiseful comments he had made about Fidel Castro.
 
According to 60 Minutes: “Back in the 1980s, Sanders had some positive things to say about the former Soviet Union and the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. Here he is explaining why the Cuban people didn’t rise up and help the U.S. overthrow Cuban leader Fidel Castro: “… he educated their kids, gave them healthcare, totally transformed the society, you know?”
 
“Bernie Sanders: ‘We’re very opposed to the authoritarian nature of Cuba but you know, it’s unfair to simply say everything is bad. You know? When Fidel Castro came into office, you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing? Even though Fidel Castro did it?”
 
“Anderson Cooper: ‘A lot of p- dissidents imprisoned in – in Cuba.’”
 
“Bernie Sanders: ‘That’s right. And we condemn that. Unlike Donald Trump, let’s be clear, you want to – I do not think that Kim Jong Un is a good friend. I don’t trade love letters with a murdering dictator. Vladimir Putin, not a great friend of mine.’”
 
Obviously, there is a lot to unpack here. Let’s start from the beginning. “He educated their kids, gave them healthcare…” what a load of crap. First of all, that is not exactly true. Literacy was an issue in pre-Castro Cuba, but it’s not like virtually no one knew how to read or write. The literacy rate was around 60-76%. The rate went up following Castro’s rise to power (and we’ll get to that in a moment), but largely because of the Soviet Union helping it out in spreading communist propaganda. Nothing Castro implemented as national policy helped, as shown by the fact that, upon the collapse of the Soviet Union, any gains the Castro regime had made in terms of education or healthcare pretty much disappeared and went back to pre-Castro rates.
 
I was originally planning to make a joke socialist argument of “you’re starving but at least you can read” but this is not even applicable here because the latter was not helped by Castro at all, while the former was highly influenced by the communist dictator. And, again, it’s not like almost no one knew how to read or write. The rates were not great, particularly when compared to other nations, but they weren’t abysmally low.
 
The second thing I want to talk about is that little tid bit where Bernie says: “When Fidel Castro came into office…” That appears to be an attempt to legitimize the communist revolutionary, who, given the word I just used, fought a REVOLUTION to come into power. He did not get elected by the people of Cuba. He led a revolution and took power from another communist who did not call himself that.
 
Which is also another reason why the Cuban people didn’t help the U.S. against Castro: they had just fought a revolution to put him into power. Now, they were expected to fight another one to remove him? Not to mention the Castro regime spread anti-American propaganda, so they weren’t likely to help the U.S. government at any capacity.
 
The third thing I want to talk about here is his reflection of the criticism he was getting from Cooper by trying to say Trump also does the same. He does not. President Trump is not friends with Vladimir Putin outright. He has taken great steps to push back on Russian aggression in many former Soviet nations like Ukraine and recognizes the threat Russia poses if left unchecked. President Trump didn’t start playing friendly towards Kim Jong Un until he tamed the Rocket Man after pretending to be the crazier guy out of the two and threatening “fire and brimstone” on the fat dictator if he tried anything. Once the communist was tamed, the two began to be a bit friendlier (though not all that much), and Trump is attempting diplomatic peace with the guy, attempting to befriend one another, not because Trump agrees with the style of government (which I cannot say the same for Bernie, who loved the Soviet Union) but because he’s the POTUS and wants peace, not war.
 
Trump also never showed adoration for these dictators before he became president, whereas Bernie, on the other hand, clearly has shown such adoration for them and excuses his love and adoration not only for the dictators but the government systems they employ and at no point does he say that he is “wrong”. Even when trying to compare what he does to Trump, he does not even pretend that what he is doing or what he perceives Trump to be doing to be a bad thing. He is using that as a shield to ask “why is it okay for him to do it and not me?” The thing is that that’s not what Trump does at all.
 
The last thing I want to talk about is the argument some of his supporters often make: “what does it matter what Bernie said in the 70s, 80s, 90s, etc.?”
 
It matters for two reasons: number one, it’s not like he was a teenager in those decades. I can somewhat forgive the ignorance of today’s young people in not understanding what socialism is. However, Bernie Sanders was 25 years old when he told high school students that he didn’t mind being called a communist. He was in his 30s/40s when he praised Castro and was 47 years old when he decided to honeymoon in MOSCOW, while also giving praise to the Soviet leadership and saying “things aren’t that bad” despite the fact that communism had killed tens of millions of people by that point.
 
He wasn’t some uneducated, ignorant young man who was simply unaware of what communism was. He understood it perfectly, saw it for what it was, and thought it was a good idea to apply that to the U.S. He was a grown adult who should’ve known better and didn’t.
 
Which brings me to my second point: HE STILL DEFENDS THIS BULLCRAP! At present time, the guy is 78 years old. At 78, he is running for President of the United States, seeking to implement the very policies that have KILLED tens of millions of people and destroyed entire nations and their economies. At the age of 78, he STILL thinks communism is a good idea and that it just hasn’t been properly implemented. He thinks the authoritarianism that stems from communism is a bug, not a feature. He still, to this date, does not realize that communism leads to the very same type of authoritarianism he accuses Trump of instilling. He either doesn’t realize it, which would make him an idiot, or realizes it and doesn’t care, which would make him evil.
 
Under communism, people don’t have rights. They cannot dissent from the official, state-sponsored and state-approved ideology. Any criticism of the leadership or the form of government will be eliminated via imprisonment or execution (or both). You are not allowed to make something out of yourself and be independent from the government. If you are rich in communist countries, it is because the government allows you to be. And that is the true 1% of the world.
 
Bernie wishes to be the ruler of his own communist nation, which is why he so often praises them and still does to this day. He doesn’t care that communism has been a horrifying failure both for the people and for the countries that apply them.
 
Bernie sanders praises communist dictators, the government they install and even excuses their horrifying authoritarianism by spreading lies about how “good” the healthcare and education of those countries are. This is something he still does to this day. Bernie Sanders is a communist and anyone claiming otherwise has zero idea of what they are talking about.
 
Proverbs 28:16
“A ruler who lacks understanding is a cruel oppressor, but he who hates unjust gain will prolong his days.”