Ask a right-wing libertarian who is supporting socialist Bernie Sanders for President

[Thumpalumpacus]

Calling Sanders a "socialist" doesn't make him one, any more than claiming that all climate scientists are part of a liberal conspiracy against the oil and coal companies makes climate change go away. I think of myself as a socialist along the lines of Noam Chomsky, and find Mr. Sanders as the least objectionable among those current running for POTUS. I part ways with Mr. Chomsky at the idea that the Democratic party has fundamental differences with the Republican party. They have media and social differences, mostly as a front to keep throwing dust in the eyes of voters. At the core though, both parties support barely regulated capitalism and the ever elusive "free market."

Mr. Sanders is not actually a Democrat, making his run to be that Party's candidate, at least for me, kind of fun. But the only way he makes much a difference in the trajectory of this country's slow decline is if he manages to be the candidate and then proves to have enormous "coat tails", bringing both the Senate and the House to the Democrats. Even then, the actual Democratic party apparatus will remain in the control of those who control it now. That apparatus is supported by, and supports, big business, big military, big pharmacy, and a militarized police force to protect those interests.  President Sanders will have his "revolution" countered by a thousand Machiavellian assaults from those who run the government, and will watch it die a slow death, bleeding from a thousand little cuts.

Inertia is a bitch.