Biden Shift Toward Sanders' Socialism?

As many of us have known for decades, Denmark does a remarkably good job of taking care of these economic problems. (I went there in 1974, because we all knew of its reputation, and was enormously impressed.) There’s no doubt in my mind that the US should, in its own way, follow Denmark’s example.

But would that unify the country? Would that satisfy Trump’s base?

Fox News and its former political commentator Bill O’Reilly don’t think so. They understand the culture war far better than we do. And they know how to exploit it politically. O’Reilly does that in his 2006 book, Culture Warrior, where he argues that “secular progressives” (read “Berniecrats and their ilk”) are hostile to Christianity and traditional American values. In private, according to the New York Times, “[Trump] and his top aides freely admit that he is engaged in a culture war on behalf of his white, working-class base.”

The ‘Socialist’ View

Like every socialist, Bernie Sanders analyzes politics in economic terms—the working class, the middle class, and the billionaires. So he explains the Democrats’ loss of the White working class by pointing to the loss of good manufacturing jobs and flatlined wages while the rich get richer.

But political scientists tend to disagree. Sure, they know about wages, job loss, and inequality. Everyone does. But they don’t think economics is why Trump’s base hates liberals and progressives, or why so many voters in the White working-class went Republican.

Look at it this way: Is Trump’s base complaining that the Democrats aren’t socialistic enough? That question would send his base into paroxysms of hysterical laughter. No. They’re saying: Build that wall, keep our guns, stop abortion, spend more on the military, eff your political correctness.

So which view is right? Is Trump’s base upset with Democrats for economic reasons—the Democrats’ lack of socialism? Or is it because his base is on the other side of a culture war? This matters because Sanders’ “democratic socialists” are attacking the Democratic Party, partly to win over Trump’s base with their “socialist” policies.

To Find Out, Look at Denmark Now

Pippa Norris is a political scientist at Harvard University who studies international populist movements. She points to the surprisingly Trump-like populism in Sweden and Denmark. Both have exactly the strong safety-net features that should (according to Sanders) win the support of the working class.

But the right-wing Danish People’s Party sounds a lot like Trump. It has the second-largest representation in Parliament. The Party’s stated goals are to protect the Monarchy and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark; to enforce a strict rule of law; and to limit immigration to prevent Denmark from becoming a multicultural society. This is almost identical to Trumpism. In Denmark, the problem can’t be either economic insecurity or inequality.

Sanders’ socialist theory does not work in Denmark.

So what’s going on? Norris summarizes the effect saying, “A lot of data suggests that countries with more robust welfare states tend to have stronger far-right movements. Providing White voters with higher levels of economic security does not tamp down their anxieties about race and immigration.” She conjectures that when people actually have economic security, their focus shifts to more on polarizing cultural issues.

Conclusion

Don’t bank on selling “socialism” to right-wing culture warriors as a way to win elections. Denmark is a wonderful country, but socialists have no idea how to get there from where we are now. They know where they want to go, but they don’t know how social change works.

Based on Ch. 17 of Ripped Apart: How Democrats Can Fight Polarization to Win. This chapter can be read for free on Amazon by clicking “Look Inside,” and then on the chapter title in the table of contents. More about: Ripped Apart.