Why does it take a Univision reporter to finally ask a Democratic candidate for President the tough questions?
For months, Bernie Sanders has been touring the country, endorsing that kinder, gentler brand of socialism… Democratic Socialism. It’s one thing to sell it in the States because Americans haven’t lived to see just how bad the consequences of Socialism can get.
But those alert to what’s happening in South America have seen this show before. And it doesn’t end well.
As I write this, a resource-rich OPEC nation with hardly any excuse NOT to be the wealthiest nation in South America is free-falling toward collapse. Chavez’s daughter and Chavez’s successor (a former bus driver) are among the wealthiest people in the entire world.
The public, however, is desperate. The free health care they have is worthless, since hospitals have no working defibrillators, and cannot even treat a heart attack. There are no supplies whatsoever. There is no electricity.
As bad as that is, the most pressing need is their starvation. People are eating stray animals out of desperation. Their own military has taken to looting the public for supplies.
This train wreck is the same Venezuela whose President (a former bus driver) Maduro is now praising Bernie Sanders.
If you think Venezuela is an outlier, just a good idea managed badly by corrupt people, you could look at Brazil and it’s failures. Don’t like Brazil as an example? Fine. How about Argentina? You get the idea.
Since these nations and their economies have been circling the toilet on the daily news, it is only natural that a Univision reporter would think to ask Bernie what he (as a Socialist) thought about the collapse of other Socialist administrations.
It’s a valid question. It’s also a question the major news networks should have asked if they weren’t so busy being the Media Arm of the Democratic party.
Here’s how the question was worded:
“I am sure you know about this topic: various leftist governments, especially the populists, are in serious trouble in Latin America. The socialist model in Venezuela has the country near collapse. Argentina, also Brazil. How do you explain that failure? … I am sure you are interested in that?”
His evasive answers could have been offered by slippery Hillary Clinton herself. Here is how the exchange played out.
“I am very interested, but right now I’m running for President of the United States.”
So you don’t have an opinion about the crisis in Venezuela?
“Of course, I have an opinion. But as I said, I’m focused on my campaign.”
Well isn’t that special? He is running on a platform of Democratic Socialism. His critics say that his plan will trigger a financial collapse, creating far more problems that it promises to solve. His critics point to floundering economies (or outright failed states) in Latin America that have already tried his policies and found them wanting.
And Bernie can’t see why his opinion on what caused other economies to fail has anything at all to do with his leadership campaign?
Let me spell it out in small words that even your supporters might understand. Follow the bouncing ball:
You wish to recreate a Socialist State that will resemble (in some way) the socialist states in Latin America and elsewhere. For some reason, that plan (in other states) had various degrees of critical failure.
Since you hope to implement a plan that resulted in critical failure elsewhere, what is your assessment? What went wrong? Is Socialism fatally flawed and doomed to destruction, no matter how carefully it is implemented? (That position has my vote.) Was it the personal corruption of the people at the top? Was it just a matter of poor execution?
All of these questions matter — even more so — to his campaign. In fact, I’d be hard-pressed to come up with better or more pressing question to ask Bernie. Since Socialism is HIS plan, he should share where he thinks Latin American nations went wrong, and how he plans to avoid making exactly those same errors.
And he’d gladly answer those questions but — look! A Squirrel!
