Bernie Sanders Explains His Special Brand Of Socialism

Bernie Sanders isn’t really a socialist the way you likely think of a socialist. As the presidential candidate has surged in the polls, there have been plenty of people who have scratched their heads when trying to think about what the country would look like if they had a self-professed socialist sitting in the Oval Office. The senator from Vermont attempted to set the record straight at a recent campaign stop, explaining Sanders’ special brand of socialism.

“Does anyone here think I am a strong adherent of the North Korean form of government?” Sanders joked, according to CBS News.

“I want all of you to be wearing similar colored pajamas! That’s my campaign — I don’t like all these colors that we got here. Flannel pajamas for everyone. Same color!”

The comments were made by Bernie Sanders after he was asked by a student how he deals with attacks from both sides of the aisle about his professed political leanings. Most people understand that while the Senator calls himself a socialist, he feels he’s more of a progressive and almost always votes in lockstep with the Democrats. This is the reason he is able to run for president as a Democrat. During the campaign stop, he went on to explain that what he actually is, is a Democratic Socialist.

“What Democratic socialism means to me is having a government which represents all people, rather than just the wealthiest people, which is most often the case right now in this country,” he said. “It is making sure that all of our people have healthcare as a right, education as a right, housing as a right, childcare as a right. That’s what I believe. If they want to throw it at me, fine,” Sanders said. The veteran politician who notably is not trying to run as someone who doesn’t understand Washington, was willing to offer help to Republican candidates, who called him out as well.

After seeing a number of Republican candidates take shots at him over his Democratic Socialism, the Nation reports that he made an appearance on CNN and took them to task. “Why are we the only major nation on earth that doesn’t guarantee health care to all people? Forget Scandinavia, I live a hundred miles away from Canada; all of their people have health care and they do it much more cost-effectively than we do,” he said. Bernie Sanders appears to be holding his own when someone attempts to use his own words against him.

[Photo by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images]