Is it for this that Eugene Debs went to jail, that Norman Thomas suffered the blows of Frank Hague’s thugs, and that Michael Harrington labored on behalf of “the other America”? So that Bernie Sanders could worry about potholes in the streets of Burlington? Surely not. Still, these are the facts. Bernard Sanders is the only Socialist head of government in America, and he is very concerned abut potholes, not to mention other crucial elements of the proletarian revolution: property tax rates, police salaries, insurance premiums, and interest on the city’s bank account.

Sanders is the Mayor of Burlington, which has a little under 38,000 people but is the largest city in Vermont. To be sure, he is not the only Socialist public official in the country. Two Congressmen, Ron Dellums of California and John Conyers of Michigan, are members of the Democratic Socialists of America, as are many state legislators and some county board members. But none of them runs a government.

So how much has Sanders radicalized Burlington, beyond putting copies of The Militant next to issues of Government Executive in the Mayor’s office? Not very much. In fact, his Socialism is hardly the most important aspect of his administration. Both his accomplishments and his problems stem more from his aggressive, sometimes contentious manner than from his ideology. “Bernie’s a pretty good Mayor,” said one resident. “But he’s a real confrontationist, and that’s going to catch up with him one day.” To which Sanders replies, “to be cooperative means to be co-opted. If I don’t do anything, what the hell was I elected for?”

Sanders did not win his narrow victory in March 1981 by saying he would municipalize the banks, expropriate the homes of the wealthy, or disarm the police. He didn’t even propose opening the Lake Champlain shoreline to the public. What he did was, he said he would raise property taxes less than the incumbent. It worked. The voters overwhelmingly turned down Mayor Gordon Paquette’s proposed 65 cent (per $100 of assessed value) tax increase. Sanders said 25 cents would be enough, and the voters bought it.

Sanders is in the small but sturdy tradition of Socialist mayors who have won and held office by tweaking the establishment, holding down taxes, and keeping the roads paved. This kind of conservative populism was used by Frank Zeidler in Milwaukee and Jaspar McLevy in Bridgeport, Connecticut. They kept getting elected simply because they seemed more competent than their opponents. So does Sanders. “We’re running a more businesslike operation here,” he says, and no one, comparing him to his predecessor, argues with that.