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.