Bernie Sanders wins, even when he loses

OPINION:

If the questions of capitalism versus socialism, individual freedoms versus government-imposed collectivism, were truly able to be settled this November by Election Day results, or even in the lead-up to Election Day by Democratic primary outcomes, then the recent ballot box wins of former Vice President Joe Biden over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders could mean something — specifically, that American voters had weighed the socialist way and said, sorry, so sorry, but nope, not for us, thanks.

And patriotic Americans could all cheer and go home and drink coffee and eat cake.

But this battle for freedom is not confined to a single election. Nor a single year. Nor a single decade.

Think of it this way. If socialism is an evil, which it is, then pretending this election season could sound the death knell to socialism with a decisive Donald Trump victory would be both fallacy and foolish. Socialism, like other evils, doesn’t disappear. It just morphs into something else. Moreover, the socialism that’s in America right now has come by way of another morphing from something else. This is crucial to understand.

If Biden beats Sanders, well and good. Or, if Sanders beats Biden but then Trump beats Sanders, well and good.

But the evil doesn’t disappear. Socialism doesn’t pack up and leave. It just comes in a new package. It just comes with a new label.

And not only come it does; but also, come it has.

To wit: Private property rights have, through the years, been massively watered by regulation; business interests have been intrusively controlled and curbed by zoning and permitting rules and fees; common sense law and order provisions, like border control, have been corrupted by social justice messages; notions of equality and fairness have taken on entirely new meanings that open the door for government-imposed redistribution, for widespread criticism of rugged individualism and accomplishment, and for never-ending calls from special interests and low-information types for more bureaucracy to solve all that ails. These are all seeds of socialism.

These are but a few tools by which government seizes, softly or aggressively, control of creation and production and wealth and private ownership.

Not in America? It’ll never happen here? Hmm.

Look at the obvious changes in America’s culture as well as the attitudes of our once fiercely independent people, and today’s widespread acceptance of entitlements and hand-outs.

Look at the blatant federal intrusion into our once “local first” public school system, resulting in the brainwashing, not broadening, of vulnerable student minds, and today’s youthful, open embrace of socialism.

Look at the stealthy infiltration of socialist viewpoints via progressivism, social justice, democratic socialism, far-leftist democracy, and a host of other terms and phrases and labels, into our collective culture and political world, and today’s battles over patriotic, constitutional principles that used to be commonly accepted by all, even newcomers to the country. America First? In the hands of the left, this is a cry of the racists. But once upon a time, even leftist-leaning liberals in Hollywood went to war for America,

So let’s take heed, America. When this election wraps, and Sanders is sent packing, and the “pueriles” with their pro-socialist energies are pushed back into the classrooms for some much-needed education, or re-education as the despots would call it, socialism in America, to America, will still be a threat.

Socialists will still be trying to upset this country.

Socialists — card-carrying, blatantly un-American, proudly boasting socialists — will still be serving in select public offices throughout the land.

So America needs to remember history and look long-term.

Sanders, even when he loses on the campaign trail, is scoring big wins with his ability to enter into the American consciousness that socialism is a possibility, an option, a consideration. It’s not. It’s completely counter to the Constitution. And that should be the end of the discussion right there.

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE.