A rose by any other name...

Sen. Bernie Sanders' taking control of the word socialist -- saying: if affordable, universal health care is socialist, then I'm a socialist; if taxing the rich is socialist, then I'm a socialist; if tuition-free education is socialist, then I'm a socialist; if campaign finance reform is socialist, then I'm a socialist; if same-sex marriage is socialist, then I'm a socialist -- is working out just fine. He's making clear the distinction between his policies and programs and those of the neoliberals that have controlled the Democratic Party since the Reagan-Clinton era. "Socialism," as Sen. Sanders uses it, is the new New Deal. It's a rebranding in the political marketplace of tried and true ideas that have been neglected for a generation by the political class.