The Inevitable ‘Big Red for Bernie’

In a move that no one everyone saw coming, Cornell students are rallying around Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
 
In mid-July die-hard Bernie fans created a Facebook page called “Big Red for Bernie” and a private group dedicated to what most likely will be campaign work.

 
Disregarding the unpleasant fact that the total number of successful socialist countries is rounded up to zero, many across the country are drawn to Sanders’ campaign, especially those on the left who are as fed up with Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton as Republicans and conservatives are.
 
Bernie is the folk hero who inhabits the dreams of many Cornellians and Ithacans dedicated to smashing capitalism and erecting the dictatorship of the proletariat. On the other hand, if the political establishment had a name, it would be “Hillary Rodham Clinton.” It is difficult to imagine Ithaca’s progressives voting for a candidate who voted to authorize the Iraq War, as Hillary did when she served in the Senate, or who lines her political coffers with money from Wall Street, as Hillary is quite good at doing.
 
Even though Hillary and Bernie really believe in many of the the same basic ideas—redistribution of wealth and “free” (i.e. very expensive) college, for example—Hillary is seen as a corporatist schill and technocrat hell-bent on preserving big business and special interests but making them subservient to the state whereas Bernie is seen as hell-bent on tearing down what remnants of free market capitalism that remain in this country in order to satisfy the desires of those who want their free lunch.
 
Why Cornell students are so drawn to Bernie, then, requires no lengthy explanation: They don’t think Hillary or the other no-name Democrats running are genuine progressives.
 
But Big Red for Bernie will come under fire from Cornell’s die-hard Hillary-ites (to whom I propose the Facebook page “Team Hillary on the Hill”). Hillary, of course, would be the first female president, and that alone is reason enough to abandon any critical assessment of her politics or track-record in favor of preparing the crown jewels for her imminent anointment. Some Bernie detractors might even dare to point out that socialism didn’t work out in the USSR, China, North Korea, Cuba, Yugoslavia, Venezuela, Greece, or anywhere else it’s been tried, but most likely they’ll stick to the big issues like physical attributes and genetics.
 
Here is my prediction: The Hillary vs. Bernie debates about to erupt across campus this year will be fantastic. Grab the popcorn. (Before socialist economic policies clear the shelves of it–or anything else to eat.)