Why do Libertarians like Bernie Sanders?

I align with Libertarians on many issues.  I like personal responsibility over myself instead of a theocratic nanny state telling me what I can and can't do.  I don't like Americans dying in wars that only make more enemies.  I don't like having to choose between a welfare state party and a theocracy party living in the 1st century.  I don't like to see a lot of government intervention in the market.

The Libertarian base doesn't like the idea of more federal or sometimes even state government.  Government only leads to bloated bureaucracies, back room deals and mismanaged wastefulness.  Which is often true.

But many of us are excited about a self-described socialist named Bernie Sanders.  A democratic socialist to be exact. How can we call ourselves Libertarians but support more government?  Government bad, remember??  Well, there are a lot of reasons for a Libertarian to support this socialist.  He's against corporate welfare, the NSA surveillance state, private prisons that lobby to keep Americans in jail for money, the Drug War, restrictions on abortion and gay marriage, globalist "free trade zones" that hurt American jobs.

But Sanders is a Socialist.  A Socialist!  He's going to come to our homes and take our money and guns and property away from us!  How could you support this you commie!??

Well, it's not quite like that.  First of all, the definition of socialism has gotten twisted around so much in this country that it's nearly as dirty a word as "liberal" (USA is a liberal country.  Life, liberty, pursuit of happiness ring a bell?) and "compromise".  So what socialist policies does this commie Jew think would be good for our country?  Bernie wants more regulations on Wall Street to prevent another financial meltdown.  He wants to raise the minimum wage to raise all working wages back to where they relatively were in the 80s and 90s.  He wants health care and retirement plans to be universal.  He wants paid maternity leave for new mothers.  Many of these things are already enjoyed by our European counterparts.  Why are we BEHIND in terms of democracy and freedom?  American invented Freedom, with a capital 'F' goddammit!

Just to show how intelligent he is and how long he's had this platform, here he is predicting the Wall Street collapse due to bad investment and crony capitalism A FULL 10 YEARS before it actually happened.  He also refuses personal attacks.  He talks about facts and issues, and completely refuses to take place in the political theatrics of the likes of Cruz and Trump.

I don't agree with everything he says.  But I think he's a reasonable, intelligent man who is willing to listen to his opponents and come to a compromise.

So there's quite a few reasons for any American that isn't a millionaire to get behind Bernie Sanders.  That's why I'll continue to call myself a Libertarian, and continue to call myself a fan of Bernie Sanders.

Two Would Have Been Better Than Zero

Obama vetoed the Keystone XL recently.  It's a bit maddening that this pipeline gets so much attention.  After all, a pipeline is a safer way to transport oil than by rail, boat or truck (all of which can tip over fairly easily) and the environmental impact is fairly minimal compared to all the other pipelines extracting tar sands.  Furthermore, only approximately 35 jobs are expected to be permanent after the pipeline is constructed, and the oil isn't expected to have a big impact on the US market.  So why did this turn into such a bitter fight?  Wait, the Koch brothers own a significant share in this?  Now I'm starting to see....

Either way, we've wasted enough time on it.  Instead of vetoing it, Obama could have given Republicans their pipeline in return for the removal of a rider from a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security that also included a highly politicized rider attacking his immigration order a few months ago.

We could have seen 2 bills pass instead of 0.  Trading one bill that doesn't matter for a bill that would have kept DHS funded and helped improve the lives of honest and hardworking immigrants would have been a pretty good deal in my opinion.