Bernie Sanders supporters can’t be THAT stupid. So why do they back nonsense, ruinous policies?

 Bernie Sanders supporters can’t be THAT stupid. So why do they back nonsense, ruinous policies?

 

9 possibilities

Nine Theories of Progressive Power

Leftists want to stay on top, but they also want to profit and seem intelligent.

 

They must know that massive wealth redistribution and public spending crush the economy if they have ever studied the failures of Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society or Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. Progressives often invoke Europe as an economic model knowing full well that the U.S. outstrips almost all European countries in economic output per capita—15% higher than Germany’s, 43% higher than France’s.

What is the end game? Here are nine answers.

1.    to gain and then stay in power—to buy votes.

2.      the shakedown theory. The goal of single-payer healthcare recalls the opening scene from “The Godfather” when Don Corleone meets with a favor-currying constituent. Bonasera wants justice for an assault on his daughter. Now imagine he’s asking his senator for permission to have gallbladder surgery.

3.      the “noblesse oblige” theory that the privileged should use government to improve the lives of the less privileged. Who better to boss us around than the “expert class”? But markets, with billions of price signals, always know better than 537 elected politicians.

4.      the “love mankind, hate people” theory. Those who complain about “deplorables” are as bad as those who complain about “elites.” Bad policy hurts everyone.

5.      the population-bomb theory, as epitomized by Bernie Sanders’s and economist Jeffrey Sachs’s desire to limit population growth and thus solve the world’s problems. As progressives wreck the economy, Americans might think twice about having that third child. Of course, most rich countries already have declining birthrates, while some poor countries are having population booms.

6.      the brainwash theory. Declaring lockdowns and pushing words like “equity” and “systemic” and “climate crisis” are all about training the minds of voters that we have big problems that can be addressed only by government. We must attack these problems as if we were at war. Remember LBJ’s “war on poverty” or Richard Nixon’s “war on drugs”? We lost both, and they weren’t wars anyway. Once progressives have brainwashed their constituents, they can convince them of anything, including giving up individual freedoms.

7.      Add the “Lord of the Rings” theory: Power is addictive. Imagine different congressmen as Gollum. It often fits.

8.      The personal-gain theory also plays a role. Mr. Sanders owns three homes, including a Vermont lake house. And that’s nothing. The foundation responsible for the Black Lives Matter movement raised some $90 million in 2020. Self-described Marxist and BLM founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors, 37, bought four homes, including two in Topanga Canyon, Calif., near Malibu.

AOC couldn’t afford rent before congress. Now wears designer clothes.

9.      the progressive cause was driven by resentment, especially toward hedge-fund guys or the T-shirt-wearing coder who recently IPOed.  Ms. Warren’s plan to resolve this resentment is simple: Confiscate the wealth of the successful and give it to progressives to spend. They know better, after all. “Tax the rich, feed the poor, ’til there are no rich no more,” sang Alvin Lee of the band Ten Years After in 1971. Who cares if the economy tanks as long as the rich are taken out at the knees?

Write to kessler@wsj.com. Nine Theories of Progressive Power - WSJ