Richard S. Bogartz: Bernie Sanders is the actual centrist

Throckmorton bopped in, grinning, proclaiming how delighted he was to live in a country with such a balanced political spectrum.



“We have the Democrats on the left, the Republicans on the right. Greens and Occupies on the left. Libertarians and Tea Partiers on the right. True balance.”



Brynhildr threw him out the front door.



Brushing off the newly cut grass, he stumbled back in, looking at me like a beaten dog. Brynhildr immediately entered tutor mode: “It is time to realize Republicans do not represent the right or conservatism. They are a rapacious lunatic fringe that does not belong on the political spectrum. They are the GOP: Greedy Omnivorous Predators. This is the party that prefers Donald Trump! The Donald, who, considering appointing Sarah Palin to a cabinet post, says ‘...she really is somebody who knows what’s happening and she’s a special person...and I think people know that.’ We have forgotten what a principled Republican like Rockefeller, Goldwater or Eisenhower sounds like.



“Inspection reveals Hillary is on the right and Bernie is the centrist. Bernie and Elizabeth are at the center of popular opinion. And this so-called pulling of Hillary to the left is a rubber band effect. Now she talks populism. Later she’ll spring back to her right-of-center roots.



“And as for the left, get real! We have no left in the U.S. We have the center, where most people are, and we have lunatics who, to profit, perpetuate ignorance in their gulls. Lunatics who would destroy the Iran deal to promote a profitable war. Apparently the $14 million per day on the ISIS war and the, even now, $187 million per day on the Iraq War is barely enough for the warmongers to eke out a living.



“I take the Greens and the Occupies to represent middle of the road views of everyday Americans. ‘Put the Wall Street bankers in jail’ is populist because the people subscribe to it. It is not left wing. Do you think feeding this country’s hungry children is a left wing conspiracy? There are people in this country who claim to follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Recall where He stood on the treatment of children. Feeding the hungry is not a lefty plot. It is human. Only the greedy lunatic fringe votes billions for aircraft that will never fly but will vote down humane treatment of the unfortunate.



“They lie that raping the land and destroying the commons is conservative. Destroying the Post Office and starving university research is not conservative. The lunatics don’t want to conserve. They want to rip off.



“The war on women’s bodies and the war on people of color is all about oppression and subjugation of easily visible targets in the name of greed.



“Here’s a taste of what the nonexistent left might sound like: ‘Nationalize the oil fields! Nationalize the utilities! Free water! Free electricity! Free Internet! Free bicycles! Term limits for police officers! Free the War-On-Drugs prisoners! Burn the prisons to the ground! Public financing of elections, with criminalization of political donations (bribery)! Free contraception! Maximum limits on yearly income and personal wealth! But you will not hear any sounds like this at all from our broken system.



“Bernie, at the center, stands with the people for rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, reversing climate change, creating worker co-ops, growing the trade union movement, raising the minimum wage, pay equity for women workers, trade policies that benefit American workers, making college affordable for all, taking on Wall Street, single-payer health care as a right for all, protecting the most vulnerable Americans, real tax reform. Bernie stands for overturning Citizens United. That is a centrist position.



“So, Throckmorton, my dear, when you hear them say that Bernie is too left wing to be elected, stand up and shout that Bernie is too centrist not to be elected!”



Brynhildr is so cool.



Richard S. Bogartz is a professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.









