Sanders and Socialism; But Does he have a heart

No clarity exists in the inter-dependencies of democracy and human rights. This can also be true in the concepts of democracy and capitalism. If you think about these two systems separately it’s hard to see how these two systems can coexist in harmony.

Democracy is about the people; Capitalism is about winner takes all. This is why what Sanders is saying about communist countries has some merit.

Let’s look at the history of Nicaragua. When the Somoza dynasty started its rule in Nicaragua, and even though it was a military dictatorship, the US government backed the regime. During the Somoza regime there was no move towards democracy or human rights. How could a country that was instrumental in writing the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 support a government like that?

After the Sandinista revolution democracy and the realization of human rights, that both depend on citizens’ willingness to exercise personal responsibility, their desire to participate, and their sense of identity, made headways because Nicaraguan citizens participated. The result; the people made reforms in Nicaragua’s institutions and the economy resulting in significant gains in literacy, medical facilities, women’s rights, and human rights contrary to the prevalent believe that the better the democracy the better the human rights.

The pitfall in Nicaragua was not socialism, not communism, it was Ortega himself and his thirst for power. In his third run for presidency he political manipulated the election by suppressing his opposition and changing the constitution to allow the president to hold office which assured that Ortega can be president until 2021. Ortega also consolidated power within the Ortega family blurring a separation of powers. Sound familiar.

What happened in Nicaragua can happen in any country, democracy, communism, monarchy and in my opinion is happening here in the United States today. I pose the question to all of you, what is the connection between government and social wellbeing; between the government and the economy? I wonder if people are better off with a leader that has a heart no matter what system of government. What we need is someone who cares. As Ron Howard said in a recent blog post “A country cannot call itself civilized when its children, disabled, sick, and elderly are neglected.”

The United States has berated countries for their treatment of women, children, for working conditions, for torture, for legal and prison discrimination. What we need to as citizen’s is look inward to our own country that has only ratified only three of the nine core Un treaties.