It’s a common exercise among liberals in America, particularly among those who have never spent more time abroad than the first semester of their junior year, to compare our country unfavorably with European nations, what with their expansive safety nets, liberal social cultures, money-free political processes, and general absence of absurd conservative craziness.
So I wasn’t surprised in early May when I saw Bernie Sanders make such a reference in an interview on ABC. Responding to George Stephonopoulos’ questioning of whether a self-avowed socialist could be elected president of the United States, Sanders spoke reverently of Scandinavia:
“In those countries, health care is the right of all people. In these countries, college education, graduate school is free. In those countries retirement benefits, childcare are stronger than the United States of America. And in those countries, by and large, government works for ordinary people in the middle class rather than as, is the case in our country, for the billionaire class."
Fair points, all. While I don’t totally agree with his characterization of government in the United States, his outrage at the disparity between us and our European friends with regard to economic, social, and environmental policy is not ill-founded. What is jarring is that Sanders does not seem nearly so outraged at the disparity between America and our European friends when it comes to gun policy.
Sanders shouldn’t be mistaken for a disciple of Wayne LaPierre (the NRA gives him an F). But for someone who wants to challenge Hillary from the left, his views are less than progressive. Sanders voted against the Brady Bill back in 1994. More recently, he voted to allow guns on Amtrak. Several recent media reports have documented his ambivalence towards gun control going back decades.
For someone who is so quick to praise the way they do things in Sweden, this is bizarre at best, and at worse, quite upsetting.
And in response to yesterday’s act of terror in Charleston, he made a statement of condolence that included no reference to the role our loose gun restrictions played in this and other such tragedies of mass violence that have plagued America for decades. Friends of mine who make their living fighting to reduce the presence of guns in our society tell me that this is unacceptable.
My gut tells me that the overwhelmingly progressive Democratic primary electorate will feel the same way.