Why Bernie Sanders is the Best Candidate Remaining for Libertarians and Other Lovers of Liberty

What?!? No, I have neither lost my mind nor traded in my copies of Man, Economy and State and Economics in One Lesson for for Prison Notebooks and What is to be Done? I further do not support nor will I vote for the Bern. So why in the name of Gramsci and Lenin do I think Sanders (now that Rand Paul is out of the race) is the most favorable option for libertarians?

In a word: GRIDLOCK. But, before I elaborate, let me offer some caveats. First, I am assuming both houses of Congress remain in Republican hands. This is crucial to my argument because Democratic Congressmen will rubber stamp such populist Sanders ideas as free college education since it will ensure they retain in perpetuity the slavish votes of the college age/recent college grad demographic and, further, pay back their statist acolytes in academia who continue to initiate the aforementioned demographic into the Cult of the State. Secondly, everyone loves a dictator in times of war, so I am also assuming that World War III doesn't begin during the Bern's first term. Thirdly, the size, scope, and power of government only goes in one direction. Until we can elect enough representatives willing to shrink government (and, right now, there are only a handful), the best thing we can hope is for Congress to be able to do as little as possible. Now, the argument...

1. The Big Government Party will not allow Sanders to put in place confiscatory tax rates.

Based on Sanders' performances in Iowa and New Hampshire and polling, in general, union workers and youth have a disproportionate representation among his followers. These groups traditionally vote democratic and will continue to do so. However, they don't have any money. Union money is distributed by union bosses and union bosses are concerned only with political power and lining their own pockets. That is why most of them have aligned with Hillary. As for the youth, they can't find jobs in the Obama economy and are overburdened with student loan debt (hence their support for free college education - see above). They don't have the financial firepower to elect the candidates of their choice. Moreover, even though potential young voters seem genuinely enthusiastic about Sanders, Democratic primary participation is actually down in both primary states. In short, it may be that young voters talk the talk but don't really walk the walk when it comes time to enter the voting booth.

No, it's Big Military, Big Insurance, Big Energy (both the fossil fuel and green varieties), Big Finance, Big Pharma, Big Hollywood, and Big Tech that elect Congressmen and fund the national parties. Their BFFs in the Big Government Party aren't going to bite the hands that feeds them. This means that government's legalized theft won't ever get too out of control. Sure, taxes on the rich will increase, but I doubt the rates will be any higher than what Donald Trump has promised to do. They'll placate the Jacobins who want to lay siege to Wall Street by raising rates on the 1%, but they also will leave plenty of loopholes in the Internal Revenue Code of which the wealthiest - with an army of accountants and tax attorneys at their disposal - can take advantage.

Somewhere in year 3 of his presidency, the notoriously economic knowledge-challenged Sanders may realize that, historically, government revenue as a percentage of GDP remains at 19% no matter what the highest marginal tax rate is. The wealthiest merely move their money around so they can avoid paying higher taxes. This may lead the Bern to propose a tax hike on the middle class. That proposal is a non-starter and will cause him to lose his bid for a second term.

2. Not only will Congress not fear Sanders, most members will not even take him seriously.

If Sanders wins, it will be because he has promised the salt of the earth that he will give them free stuff and because they have bought into the idea that he has come to liberate them from the special interests who control Washington. In other words, he will have been carried to victory on the shoulders of the common man (that is, if the common man is a bunch of economically illiterate, naive bunch of whiny freeloaders - but, I digress). The common man has no political power neither literally nor in the minds of the political elite. Because of that, no one in Washington is going to do anything Bernie wants that doesn't also forward the agenda(s) of their respective political financiers and cronies. Being that Bernie is all about fighting the corruption of money in politics, his agenda is in diametrical opposition to the Washington establishment. That means Bernie will get little accomplished. That's a good thing for you and I.

Furthermore, once it becomes clear to his supporters that Sanders is unable to deliver on his promises, he will lose even more political clout. Count on that perception starting to take hold somewhere the 6th - 9th month of a Sanders presidency.

3. Sanders' Democratic Socialism will fail horribly.

We are heading for a major global economic reset. Evidence abounds:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-09/what-central-bank-failure-looks-part-2

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-09/global-stocks-enter-bear-market

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-09/if-it-looks-recession-and-smells-recession

http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/the-spook-in-the-casino-recession-just-ahead-part-1/

http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/why-the-bulls-will-get-slaughtered/

http://peterschiffblog.blogspot.com/2016/02/us-economy-recession-is-already-under.html

Whoever is President will be called on by the masses (and Wall Street) to take immediate, decisive action to right the economy. However, as the articles above demonstrate, opening up the money spigots and lowering interest rates will not work. Quantitative easing, bailouts, the Stimulus, and backdoor Federal Reserve cash injections were a temporary Band Aids that merely placed a thin veneer over the mess the economy had become and interest rates, which have remained artificially low for almost 15 years, simply can't go any lower (although we are heading into uncharted waters from ZIRP to NIRP). The fall will be especially hard and longer lasting than the official eighteen month or so recession (which, in reality, never really ended). It will change our economy on a very fundamental level. The economic trauma will be such that no matter what socialist moves Sanders and the central planners make, the economy will not recover for a very long time. Only the wholesale elimination of government impediments to sustainable growth will allow us to crawl back out of the hole and we know that is not going to happen any time soon.

When the crash arrives, we need to hammer the philosophy of statism that has caused us to arrive at that singularity. We need to pillory its advocates - Sanders being only one of the many, are you listening Krugman, Stiglitz, et al? - and call for a return to the halcyon days of yore when all we had to deal with were merely corrupt politicians and not the burgeoning, out of control, bureaucratic technocracy - the purveyors and perpetrators of the Talebian Harvard Soviet delusion - that currently rules us.

Next Post: Why Bernie Sanders is the Best Candidate Remaining for Libertarians and Other Lovers of Liberty - Part 2: Why Trump Won't Be Any Better (with an emphasis on foreign policy)

Back from exile

With the possible demise of Twitter, now might be the time to get back into the swing of things on this blog. Let's see where to begin?