I’m feeling the Bern – and lots of others are, too.

Since independent Vermont senator Bernie Sanders made his bid for the 2016 Democratic nomination official, he has, rather quickly, raised millions of dollars in small donations and attracted overflow crowds wherever he speaks. And despite the confusion of the mainstream media – the Washington Post, for example, called Sanders’ rise “unexpected” and on par with Donald Trump – he’s not just some frumpy old white guy on a rant. He’s a seasoned, left-leaning politician primed to deliver a progressive message to a public both eager to embrace another option on the left and to be able to chose from more than just a Democrat or a Republican.

Political party designations are suspicious for someone, like me, who grew up in the southern United States, where Democrats ruled until the great 1970s switch-a-roo put Republicans in the driver’s seat. The “good ole boy” Democratic voters – the yellow dogs – gave themselves over entirely to the Republicans, while Democratic politicians, too, inched closer to the right, abandoning whatever principles they might have once had for the “triangulation” of Bill Clinton and the other Baby Boomer donkeys who sold out to the same corporate companies and tough-on-the-poor rhetoric as their counterparts across the aisle. But up in Vermont, where Birkenstock hippies are neighbors with live-free-or-die libertarians, Sanders was a true independent.

It was that “I” after his name that first caught my attention several years ago: Sanders proudly calls himself “a socialist”. So why is a lover of communism – an evil socialist hell-bent on the destruction of good-and-proper capitalism – doing so well in a political contest in America? Are we finally gearing up for a violent uprising of the proletariat?

Not quite: even the word “socialist” just isn’t that terrible anymore. Remember when we were told that passing Medicare would create a socialist dictatorship? Now, after all the Alinsky scare-mongering and promises that electing Obama would mean getting a socialist in the White House (and ending up with a centrist), the public has become more sophisticated about the language of manufactured moral panic. Calling someone a socialist these days is like calling someone a Roosevelt Democrat (before the rightward drift of the whole political spectrum).

Socialism in 21st century America is a government that exists to serve the common people, the working people, the middle class, not an arm of the richest and most powerful segment of society. It’s a government that creates and nurtures policies that promote the best possible conditions for every citizen to have a healthy, prosperous, peaceful and productive life.

Sanders has been consistent on issues that impact the everyday lives of real Americans, and his platform is ambitious. The list of Sanders-approved-before-it-was-cool policies is long: universal healthcare; the right to an education; the impact of race on access to employment and education; avoiding wars we cannot afford and taking care of those who do fight in those wars; economic stability for the middle class; and environmental protection. He was part of the 99% before it was a hashtag. He’s so authentic that he’s hip, even to the hip kids.

Similar messages delivered by previous populist, independent candidates like Ralph Nader and Ross Perot didn’t catch on because there was always that whiff of ego that voters like me could smell, coupled with lack of experience in government. They had some catchy slogans but failed to present an overarching social and political philosophy.

Washington insiders want to paint Bernie as a radical like them – outside the mainstream – but what they’re seeing someone who has been ahead of the curve his entire career. Perhaps it’s not that he’s been ahead, but that he’s never changed, while his peers have veered and swayed with every new breeze from focus groups, campaign cash and media pressure.

Bernie’s biggest obstacle to the White House is the defeatist attitude of an electorate that is constantly being told by big money that big money is the only factor in winning elections – “How can Bernie get anywhere against the money and power of Hillary?” we keep hearing. He could save the middle class but his policies don’t attract corporate or billionaire political donations, so we’re supposed to think that it’s hopeless.

Thank goodness that gloomy attitude didn’t prevail in New England a couple hundred years ago when the big money and all the power was in the hands of King George and his empire. Imagine if the patriots had read more press about the hopelessness of their campaign.

There will be those – certainly some in my neighborhood – who will interpret Bernie’s calls for political change as evidence of commie plots to enslave us all. It won’t be anything new: right-wing rhetoric has been demonizing the left for the last 40 years. But this time, rather than stock up on ammunition, jerky and canned beans to survive the coming Communist hordes, we might think about giving Bernie’s style of socialism a chance. I like living in a democracy and the idea of a government – whether big or small – that works for me instead of against me sounds appealing. Don’t you feel it? That’s the Bern.