Viewpoints
Opinion

The Economic Realities of Democratic Socialism

The Economic Realities of Democratic Socialism
Supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton hoist signs on Day 1 of the National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on July 25, 2016. Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
|Updated:

It is amazing what 25 years can do to a political party’s platform.

On Jan. 27, 1996, then-President Bill Clinton proclaimed that “the era of big government is over, but we can’t go back to a time when our citizens were just left to fend for themselves.” He added: “So, again ... I asked Congress to join with me to make the cuts we agree on. Let’s give the American people the balanced budget they deserve with a modest tax cut and the lower interest rates and brighter hope for the future it will bring.”

Compare Clinton’s message with that of today’s Democratic Socialist darlings, Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Sanders’s signature program is “Medicare for All,” a plan that moves all responsibility for health care spending on America onto the federal budget. As he explained, “The time has come also to say that we need to expand Medicare to cover every man, woman, and child as a single-payer, national health care program.”

Veronique de Rugy
Veronique de Rugy
Author
Veronique de Rugy, Ph.D., is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. She has testified numerous times in front of Congress on the effects of fiscal stimulus, debt, deficits, and regulation on the economy. Previously, de Rugy has been a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute, and a research fellow at the Atlas Economic Research Foundation.
Related Topics