Bernie Sanders explains his "democratic socialism"

Bernie Sanders gave a speech at Georgetown University last week in which he clarified what he means to democratic socialism.   Mother Jones magazine has provided these excerpts:
  
"Almost everything [Roosevelt] proposed was called "socialist." I thought I would mention that just in passing. Social Security, which transformed life for the elderly in this country, was defined by his opponents as "socialist." The concept of the "minimum wage"—that workers had to be paid at least a certain amount of money for their labor—was seen as a radical intrusion into the marketplace and was described as "socialist." Unemployment insurance (the idea that if you lose your job at least you have something to fall back), abolishing child labor, the 40-hour work week, collective bargaining (the rights of workers to engage in negotiations with a union), strong banking regulations, deposit insurance, and job programs that put millions of people to work were all described, in one way or another, as "socialist." Yet as you all know, all of these programs and many more have become the fabric of our nation and in fact the foundation of our middle class.

"Thirty years later . . . President Lyndon Johnson fought for Medicare and Medicaid to provide health care to millions of senior citizens and families with children, persons with disabilities . . . . Today Medicare does not seem to be such a terribly radical idea, . . . but when it was proposed once again we heard right-wing forces describe these programs as socialistic and a threat to our American way of life. . . .  

"The next time you hear me attacked as a socialist—like tomorrow—remember this: I don’t believe government should take over the grocery store down the street or own the means of production, but I do believe that the middle class and the working families . . . who produce the wealth of this country deserve a decent standard of living and that their incomes should go up, not down.

"I do believe in private companies that thrive and invest and grow in America, companies that create jobs here rather than companies that are shutting down in America and increasing their profits by exploiting low-wage labor abroad.

"I believe that most Americans can pay lower taxes if hedge fund managers who make billions manipulating the marketplace finally start paying the taxes that they should.

"I don't believe in special treatment for the top 1 percent, but I do believe in equal treatment for African Americans who are right to proclaim the moral principle that Black Lives Matter.

"I despise appeals to nativism and prejudice of which we have been hearing a lot in recent months, and I do believe in immigration reform that gives Hispanics and others a pathway to citizenship and a better life. I don’t believe in some foreign “ism”, but I believe deeply in American idealism.

"I’m not running for president because it’s my turn, but because it’s the turn of all of us to live in a nation of hope and opportunity not for some, not for the few, but for all."

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Sounds great to me, whatever you call it.   It doesn't bother me at all to call it "democratic socialism."    The main thing is to distinguish such social network programs from the fascistic reign of Stalin et al that imposed socialism on the people and used tyranny to control them.   In contrast, democratic socialism is decided by the will of the people through free elections.   That's the big difference.

Ralph