The Appeal of Bernie Sanders

Reconciliation of Freedom and the State in 2016

-- By LaurenRoemke - 19 Feb 2016

Bernie Sanders’ goal to revolutionize our system of government by reconciling the public’s interests in freedom and the state’s interest in control is what sets him apart from other candidates and captivates voters.

Consequences of the State

Before we can understand Sanders' goal to revolutionize our system of government through reconciliation of the state and freedom, we must first understand what the state is. Holmes suggests that in order to understand something, we must look at what it does, or its consequences. The federal government currently owns $1 trillion of student loan debt (Chris Denhart, Forbes), and the Congressional Budget Office expects a $149 billion profit on new direct loans to students through 2024 (Jordan Weissmann, Slate). In addition to student debt, wealth equality continues to grow, with the wealthiest 160,000 families owning as much wealth as the poorest 145 million families (Chris Matthews, Forbes). In fact, 44% of households have less than three months of savings to live above the poverty level (Quentin Fottrell, Market Watch). Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that medical bills are the biggest cause of U.S. bankruptcies (Dan Mangan, CNBC). The United States also has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with young black males making up a disproportionate share of the prison population (Tyjen Tsai & Paola Scommegna, PRB). Looking at these financial and physical constraints, it is apparent that the state restricts the freedom of the majority in favor of the elite minority. The state limits the freedom of students to choose a job other than the one that will pay off debt most quickly. The state limits the freedom of Americans to live free from fear that they will go bankrupt from medical bills, or forced into poverty from losing their jobs. In this paramilitary police state, many Americans can’t even go through their day without worry of being arrested. In the U.S., the state’s interest in control is at odds with the freedom interest of the majority of the population, and this tension has reached a breaking point.

Antecedents of the State

Having seen the consequences of the state, it is also informative to look at its antecedents in order to understand how we can begin to reconcile freedom and the state (Cohen, Transcendental Nonsense). History and tradition largely inform why the state has taken its particular shape. Many of the founders of the American state were educated in English common law. As explained by Holmes in The Path of the Law, English common law developed in the “needs of kings, [and] in the assumptions of a dominant class.” These needs and assumptions were reflected in the text of the Constitution, which ascribed rights to white, male landowners. During the debates at the constitutional convention, James Madison, the Constitution’s main framer, said the government “ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority” (Robert Yates, Avalon Project). In sum, the “U.S. Constitution put power in the hands of the wealthy, and was written to prevent, not promote, democracy” (Michael Berkowitz, Huffington Post; Noam Chomsky, Requiem for the American Dream). The State’s function as a system to limit democracy and protect the opulent minority continues today, and is fundamentally at odds with the freedom interest of the majority. As stated by Michael Berkowitz, “The course of our history has been defined by the struggles of this wealth and political power against upsurges in democratization, most notably in the 1930s labor movement and the 1960s peace, civil rights, and women’s movements” (Michael Berkowitz, Huffington Post; Noam Chomsky, Requiem for the American Dream). In the 2016 election, we are again seeing an upsurge in democratization through voter demands for Wall Street regulation, increased minimum wages, reduced college tuition, national healthcare, and campaign finance reform. The everyday experiences of the majority have undermined American idealism and loyalty and enthusiasm for existing organizations, creating the possibility for new organizations that value human dignity rather than the preservation of inequality.

Bernie Sanders & Revolution

Understanding the consequences and antecedents of the state are key to a political revolution. As explained by Holmes, “When you get the dragon out of his cave on to the plain and in the daylight, you can count his teeth and claws, and see just what is his strength. But to get him out is only the first step. The next is either to kill him, or to tame him and make him a useful animal…the man of the future is the man of statistics and master of economics." Bernie Sanders sees the state in the daylight, sees its strength in restricting the freedom of the majority, and has formulated a plan on how to revolutionize it. Sanders is a man of the future in that he doesn’t wax poetically about the state as some “shining city upon a hill,” whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere (Reagan Farewell Speech), but rather tells the truth and reckons with social fact and statistics. When Sanders talks about a political revolution, he is talking about how we can create millions of decent-paying jobs, provide healthcare to all citizens, enact campaign finance reform, eliminate mandatory minimum sentences, and end the federal prohibition on marijuana. These measures can provide meaningful freedom to the majority of the population by allowing citizens to live without fear that an illness or temporary unemployment will leave them bankrupt, participate meaningfully in democratic elections, and not be imprisoned for minor offenses. At the same time, it’s important to remember that Bernie Sanders is not the answer. A true political revolution will require continued public involvement in the revolution after election seasons are over, as well as senators, governors, and representatives who support the same programs as Sanders. Sanders’ popularity among voters marks an important moment in U.S. history; it represents a yearning among the population for reconciliation of the state and freedom, such that the state works to promote, rather than restrict, the freedom of the majority.

Works Cited

• Chris Denhart, Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/specialfeatures/2013/08/07/how-the-college-debt-is-crippling-students-parents-and-the-economy/#15a3668d1a41
• Jordan Weissmann, Slate: http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2014/04/student_loan_profits_the_government_makes_its_money_off_grad_students.html
• Chris Matthews, Forbes: http://fortune.com/2014/10/31/inequality-wealth-income-us/
• Quentin Fottrell, Market Watch: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/americans-are-trapped-in-a-cycle-of-financial-insecurity-2016-01-25
• Dan Mangan, CNBC: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100840148
• Tyjen Tsai & Paola Scommegna, PRB: http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2012/us-incarceration.aspx
• Felix S. Cohen, Transcendental Nonsense and the Functional Approach, 35 Colum. L. Rev. 809 (1935)
• Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., The Path of the Law, 10 Harvard Law Review 457 (1897)
• Robert Yates, Avalon Project: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/yates.asp
• Michael Berkowitz, Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-berkowitz/requiem-for-the-american-_b_9203578.html
• Noam Chomsky, Requiem for the American Dream: http://requiemfortheamericandream.com
• Reagan Farewell Speech: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/primary-resources/reagan-farewell/

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