Instigator / Pro
3
1266
rating
119
debates
15.97%
won
Topic
#429

Bernie Sanders is a social democrat, not a democratic socialist

Status
Finished

The debate is finished. The distribution of the voting points and the winner are presented below.

Winner & statistics
Better arguments
0
6
Better sources
2
4
Better legibility
1
2
Better conduct
0
2

After 2 votes and with 11 points ahead, the winner is...

Alec
Parameters
Publication date
Last updated date
Type
Standard
Number of rounds
3
Time for argument
Three days
Max argument characters
30,000
Voting period
One week
Point system
Multiple criterions
Voting system
Open
Contender / Con
14
1596
rating
42
debates
63.1%
won
Description

No information

Round 1
Pro
#1
In the first round I will be replying to Alec's erroneous drivel from the comment section.

"Well I'll start out by saying that America's very political system is right wing" Compared to China, yes. Compared to Africa, no
China is communist in name only. They have less social programs and just as much privatization as America. In fact, China is the epitome of wage slavery. 

"in America most people don't even know what socialism is and are only told that it is bad." Then explain why Bernie Sanders almost won against Hillary Clinton in the primaries. If Hillary was a male, then Bernie would have won since many people voted for Hillary solely because she was a woman. Also, rational wiki is not a reliable source. They are biased.
Bernie Sanders is not a socialist, that is the entire point of this debate which one of these sounds more like Bernie Sanders?

SOCIALISM is a political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

Social democracy is a political, social and economic ideology that supports economic and social interventions to promote social justice within the framework of a liberal democratic polity and capitalist economy.

"Canada may have a lower GDP, but it also has a higher standard of living" I measure Standard of living by GDP per person on average. It's numerical, which I think is easy to understand.
Then show me the GDP "per person" then. A nation's GDP means nothing if all of the fruits of civilization go to the one percent and those who produce everything have a low quality of life.

"California is the US state with the highest GDP and it is considered one of the most left leaning." This is because urban areas tend to have a higher GDP per capita then rural areas and California is pretty urban compared to a state like Mississippi.
Urban areas also tend to be left leaning.

"Also America regularly and continually engages in economic imperialism" Can you cite this?
A complete map of all the countries America has invaded:-
https://www.indy100.com/article/usa-american-army-invasions-police-actions-overseas-dod-defense-war-troops- deployment-marines-7908611
Feel free to map these invasions to their respective Presidents:-
(1) American Indian nations (1776 onwards, American Indian Genocide; 1803, Louisiana Purchase; 1844, Indians banned from east of the Mississippi; 1861 onwards, California genocide; 1890, Lakota Indians massacre), (2) Mexico (1836-1846; 1913; 1914-1918; 1923), (3) Nicaragua (1856-1857; 1894; 1896; 1898; 1899; 1907; 1910; 1912-1933; 1981-1990), (4) American forces deployed against Americans (1861-1865, Civil War; 1892; 1894; 1898; 1899-1901; 1901; 1914; 1915; 1920-1921; 1932; 1943; 1967; 1968; 1970; 1973; 1992; 2001), (5), Argentina (1890), (6), Chile (1891; 1973), (7) Haiti (1891; 1914-1934; 1994; 2004-2005), (8) Hawaii (1893-), (9) China (1895-1895; 1898-1900; 1911-1941; 1922-1927; 1927-1934; 1948-1949; 1951-1953; 1958), (10) Korea (1894-1896; 1904-1905; 1951-1953), (11) Panama (1895; 1901-1914; 1908; 1912; 1918-1920; 1925; 1958; 1964; 1989-), (12) Philippines (1898-1910; 1948-1954; 1989; 2002-), (13) Cuba (1898-1902; 1906-1909; 1912; 1917-1933; 1961; 1962), (14) Puerto Rico (1898-; 1950; ); (15) Guam (1898-), (16) Samoa (1899-), (17) Honduras (1903; 1907; 1911; 1912; 1919; 1924-1925; 1983-1989), (18) Dominican Republic (1903-1904; 1914; 1916-1924; 1965-1966), (19) Germany (1917-1918; 1941-1945; 1948; 1961), (20) Russia (1918-1922), (21) Yugoslavia (1919; 1946; 1992-1994; 1999), (22) Guatemala (1920; 1954; 1966-1967), (23) Turkey (1922), (24) El Salvador (1932; 1981-1992), (25) Italy (1941-1945); (26) Morocco (1941-1945), (27) France (1941-1945), (28) Algeria (1941-1945), (29) Tunisia (1941-1945), (30) Libya (1941-1945; 1981; 1986; 1989; 2011), (31) Egypt (1941-1945; 1956; 1967; 1973; 2013), (32) India (1941-1945), (33) Burma (1941-1945), (34) Micronesia (1941-1945), (35) Papua New Guinea (1941-1945), (36) Vanuatu (1941-1945), (37) Austria (1941-1945), (38) Hungary (1941-1945), (39) Japan (1941-1945), (40) Iran (1946; 1953; 1980; 1984; 1987-1988; ), (41) Uruguay (1947), (42) Greece (1947-1949), (43) Vietnam (1954; 1960-1975), (44) Lebanon (1958; 1982-1984), (45) Iraq (1958; 1963; 1990-1991; 1990-2003; 1998; 2003-2011), (46) Laos (1962-), (47) Indonesia (1965), (48) Cambodia (1969-1975; 1975), (49) Oman (1970), (50) Laos (1971-1973), (51) Angola (1976-1992), (52) Grenada (1983-1984), (53) Bolivia (1986; ), (54) Virgin Islands (1989), (55) 1997), (61) Albania (1997), (62) Sudan (1998), (63) Afghanistan (1998; 2001-), (64) Yemen (2000; 2002-), (65) Macedonia (2001), (66) Colombia (2002-), (67) Liberia (1990; 1997; 2003), (56) Saudi Arabia (1990-1991), (57) Kuwait (1991), (58) Somalia (1992-1994; 2006), (59) Bosnia (1993-), (60) Zaire (Congo) (1996-https://www.countercurrents.org/polya050713.htm
"many more left leaning countries are smaller and were less developed to begin with" What caused them to be poor while America became rich? If you blame colonialism, America does not engage in colonialism much without turning the areas it conquerors into states, thereby giving them representation in the US gov. The US used to be a colony it's self. If Colonialism helped the US but somehow hurt other nations, then why would colonialism sometimes be beneficial and sometimes be hurtful?
I just told you that they were poor to begin with, you know, before socialism. I'm not even getting into colonialism right now. 

"Many countries which right wingers point at and say "see, socialism is crap" were poor to begin with and actually improved under socialism." Venezuela did not improve under socialism. They had to go into inflation and right wing Columbia had to accept around 1 million immigrants from Venezuela that fled due to better opportunities that right wing policies generated.
The majority of Venezuela's industry is privately owned.
Con
#2
You basically go off on a rant on how much you hate capitalism and love socialism.  That is not what the point of the debate is about.  This is about the political position of Bernie Sanders.

Bernie Sanders is a democratic socialist.
His official platform position is, "Bernie identifies as a democratic socialist."(http://feelthebern.org/who-is-bernie-sanders/).
Round 2
Pro
#3
Forfeited
Con
#4
Argument extended.
Round 3
Pro
#5
Forfeited
Con
#6
Vote Con.  God Bless America.