Progressive being the latest cool kid code word for “Socialist.”
Via The Hill
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said on Sunday that he considered himself the most liberal lawmaker in Congress.
“I think it’s fair to say I am perhaps the most progressive member of Congress,” Sanders told host Bob Schieffer on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
“I am proud of being the longest-serving independent in the history of the United States Congress,” he added.
Sanders, a 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, additionally reiterated his interest in copying some policies from socialist European nations.
“We can learn a whole lot from some of those countries,” he said, citing Austria, Denmark and Germany as examples.
“College education is free in those countries,” Sanders said of those nations’ undergraduate educational programs.
“That makes a lot of sense to me,” he said.
Sanders also advocated eliminating the role of wealthy special interests in political campaign spending.
“Billionaires like the Koch brothers are owning the political process,” he said of businessmen David and Charles Koch.
“Billionaires should not be able to buy elections,” he said.
Sanders argued that if elected president, he would additionally vet potential Supreme Court justices by their desire to overturn the landmark Citizens United ruling on campaign contributions.
“That decision has undermined U.S. democracy,” he said of the case, which prohibits restrictions on political expenditures from organizations on the basis of free speech.