Just Like Unicorns, Sanders’ Policy Solutions Aren’t Real

I agree with Bernie Sanders. That’s right. I said it. Never thought I would, did you?

I agree with Bernie Sanders when he rails against the corruption of big banks. I, like Bernie, opposed the government bailout of politically-connected Wall Street investment banks in 2008. At the time, it was a lonely and brave stance to take inside the Washington Beltway.

I also agree with Bernie Sanders that these politically-juiced banks are too big to fail; that TARP made the risky, over-leveraged ones bigger still. I agree with Bernie when he says that these banks pose a major threat to our economy.

I agree with Bernie Sanders’ demand that we audit the Federal Reserve, and I applaud his work with Rand Paul to demand accountability from this quasi-government, big bank slush fund. Bloomberg News reports that the Fed floated some $1.2 trillion to banks and other businesses from 2007 to 2010. That’s T-R-I-L-L-I-O-N. (And we wonder why Millennial Berners are now looking for a student loan bailout?) The manipulation of the value of the dollar and interest rates by the Federal Reserve is the most insidious kind of tax, transferring purchasing power from the working class to the most moneyed, politically-connected Americans.

I, like Bernie, worry about the political influence of big corporations. I am opposed to crony capitalism, the growing collusion of big businesses with big government. There’s nothing “free enterprise” about using politics to divide and reallocate taxpayer spoils to the benefit of particular corporations. We should always oppose regulatory favors, spending earmarks, and special access used to gain advantage over other business competitors.

I agree with Bernie Sanders’ critique of Hillary Clinton. I too worry about her cozy relationship with the well-heeled donors to the Clinton Foundation. What exactly did she and Bill promise them in return? What is the quid pro quo for, say, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia?

Like Bernie Sanders, I oppose Hillary Clinton’s naive, bellicose, neoconservative approach to foreign intervention and nation-building. As a senator, Hillary voted to invade Iraq in 2002. I, like Bernie, opposed invading Iraq then, in the heat of the moment, believing that regime change there would be bad for American security. More recently, Hillary’s war in Libya has absolutely, unequivocally created more chaos in the region. Taking out Muammar Gaddafi, dirt bag that he was, has destabilized Libya, empowered our enemies, and made America less safe.

I absolutely agree with Bernie Sanders on the question of mass incarceration. Like Bernie, I know that federal meddling in our justice system, particularly imposing mandatory minimum prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenders, has been a disaster. Federal prison populations have exploded, fueled in large part by Bill (and Hillary) Clinton’s “tough on crime” bill in 1994. It was political posturing, not real justice reform, and now the United States jails more people per capita than any nation, save communist hell hole North Korea.

I agree with Bernie Sanders on all of these things, but he loses me when he moves beyond symptoms to solutions. The above listed problems are all examples of the unintended consequences of a political process that concentrates too much power and money in Washington, D.C. And yet Bernie consistently says the solution to virtually every real or perceived social problem can be achieved by giving politicians more power and more of your hard earned money.

Wait. What?

The answer to problems created by the abuse of government power is… more concentrated government power? This is where I part ways with Bernie Sanders. Every single flavor of socialism involves more government ownership, more government control. Figuring out how to expand political power without abusing it—without the disastrous unintended consequences that are inevitable whenever government designers try to rearrange complex social interactions from the top, down—has always been the fantasy unicorn of democratic socialism.

There’s no good way to wield unlimited power. When dividing the spoils of politics, the insiders—the crony capitalists, the defense contractors, the prison and police unions, the politically-connected investment bankers and their lobbyists will always get a seat at the table first.

Respectfully, I say to Bernie Sanders: the only way to achieve your best intentions is through liberty, not government power. The answers to America’s many problems will be solved by voluntary cooperation, and individual entrepreneurship, and free market competition, and communities working together locally to solve problems that no planner in Washington ever could. (For more from the author of “Just Like Unicorns, Sanders’ Policy Solutions Aren’t Real” please click HERE)

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