Bernie Sanders speaks to his supporters during a rally at the PNC Music Pavilion in Charlotte, N.C. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)Supporters cheer as Bernie Sanders speaks to them during a rally in the Schottenstein Center at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)Bernie Sanders speaks to his supporters during a rally in the Schottenstein Center at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders addresses an overflow crowd during a campaign rally at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)Supporters listen to Bernie Sanders at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)Supporters wait to enter the Sanders rally. (Charles Ledford/Getty Images)Sanders speaks at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)Sanders waves to supporters after addressing the rally. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)Sanders waves to a crowd as he arrives at the Rainbow Push Coalition in Chicago. (Nam Y. Huh/AP)A Sanders supporter cheers the Democratic presidential candidate at the Rainbow Push Coalition, a group headed by the Rev. Jesse Jackson. (Nam Y. Huh/AP)The Rev. Jesse Jackson, right, listens as Sanders speaks at the Rainbow Push forum in Chicago. (Tannen Maury/EPA)Sanders, center, greets members of the crowd at the Rainbow Push Coalition after sitting for an interview with the Rev. Jesse Jackson in Chicago. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders addresses a rally at Macomb Community College in Warren, Mich. (Geoff Robins/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images)Sanders supporters cheer during a rally at Macomb Community College in Warren, Mich. (Geoff Robins/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images)Sanders laughs as he arrives to speak to his supporters during a Super Tuesday rally at the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction, Vt. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)Supporters listen as Sanders speaks to them during a rally in Essex Junction, Vt. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)Sanders raises his fist after his speech to supporters at the Champlain Valley Exposition. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)Sen. Bernie Sanders, center, waves as he arrives to speak at a campaign event at Chicago State University in Chicago. (Tannen Maury/European Pressphoto Agency)A supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders waits for him to arrive at a community forum at Woodside Church in Flint, Mich. The forum focused on the water crisis in Flint. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)Bernie Sanders speaks during a rally at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C. (Cassi Alexandra/For The Washington Post)Bernie Sanders speaks during a rally at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C. (Cassi Alexandra/For The Washington Post)Supporters wait to hear Bernie Sanders speak during a rally at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C. (Cassi Alexandra/For The Washington Post)Someone holds up a Bernie Sanders T-shirt before the candidate speaks at a rally at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C. (Cassi Alexandra/For The Washington Post)Bernie Sanders waves to his supporters before delivering his concession speech at the Henderson Pavilion in Henderson, Nev. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)Sanders delivers a speech to a packed Memminger Auditorium in Charleston, S.C. (Alex Holt/For The Washington Post)Sanders speaks in Charleston. (Alex Holt/For The Washington Post)Supporters give Sanders a standing ovation during a town hall in Charleston. (Alex Holt/For The Washington Post)Sanders is joins Rev. Al Sharpton for a meeting at Sylvia's Restaurant in the Harlem neighborhood of New York. (Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images)A crowd gathers to see Sanders arrive at Sylvias. (Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images)Sharpton talks with Sanders as they sit down for a breakfast meeting at Sylvias. (Richard Drew/AP)Sanders chats with host Stephen Colbert during a taping of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" in New York. (Jeffrey R. Staab, CBS/AP)Bernie Sanders greets his supporters with his wife, Jane OMeara Sanders, at Concord High School after winning New Hampshire. (Lucian Perkins/for The Washington Post)Bernie Sanders supporters shout in excitement as he prepares to come out onstage after winning New Hampshire. (Lucian Perkins/for The Washington Post)From left: Kat Wright, Brett Hughes and Dwight Ritchie, all from Burlington, sing This Land Is Your Land at the Ward 5 polling place at the Green Street Community Center in Concord, N.H. (Lucian Perkins/for The Washington Post)Bernie Sanders decides to take a walk around the block after walking through a group of supporters and camera crews when he briefly visited the Ward 5 polling place at the Green Street Community Center in Concord, N.H. (Lucian Perkins/for The Washington Post)Bernie Sanderss supporters wait in excitement for his arrival at Ward 5 polling place at the Green Street Community Center in Concord, N.H. (Lucian Perkins/for The Washington Post)A supporter holds a sign for Sanders during his speech at the Whittemore Center arena. (Lucian Perkins/For The Washington Post)Supporters listen to Sanders at the arena. (Lucian Perkins/For The Washington Post)Sanders comes to the aid of one of his supporters who passed out after standing behind him during his talk at Pinkerton Academy Stockbridge Theatre in Derry, N.H. (Lucian Perkins/for The Washington Post)Sanders works the crowd after speaking in Portsmouth. (Lucian Perkins/for The Washington Post)Sanders takes the stage to speak at a campaign rally in Rindge, N.H. (Charles Ommanney/The Washington Post)Voters cheer Sanders at a New Hampshire Democrats gathering entitled 2016 McIntyre Shaheen 100 Club Celebration in Manchester, N.H. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)Supporters listen to Sanders speak at a rally in Exeter, N.H. (Charles Ommanney/The Washington Post)
Photo Gallery: Highlights from Bernie Sanders’s campaign, in pictures
SEN. BERNIE Sanders (I-Vt.) is leading in New Hampshire and within striking distance in Iowa, in large part because he is playing the role of uncorrupted anti-establishment crusader. But Mr. Sanders is not a brave truth-teller. He is a politician selling his own brand of fiction to a slice of the country that eagerly wants to buy it.
Mr. Sanders’s tale starts with the bad guys: Wall Street and corporate money. The existence of large banks and lax campaign finance laws explains why working Americans are not thriving, he says, and why the progressive agenda has not advanced. Here is a reality check: Wall Street has already undergone a round of reform, significantly reducing the risks big banks pose to the financial system. The evolution and structure of the world economy, not mere corporate deck-stacking, explained many of the big economic challenges the country still faces. And even with radical campaign finance reform, many Americans and their representatives would still oppose the Sanders agenda.
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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), spoke about climate change, the Islamic State, racism and his vision for the country at Georgetown University on Nov. 19. Here are the key moments. (The Washington Post)
Mr. Sanders’s story continues with fantastical claims about how he would make the European social model work in the United States. He admits that he would have to raise taxes on the middle class in order to pay for his universal, Medicare-for-all health-care plan, and he promises massive savings on health-care costs that would translate into generous benefits for ordinary people, putting them well ahead, on net. But he does not adequately explain where those massive savings would come from. Getting rid of corporate advertising and overhead would only yield so much. Savings would also have to come from slashing payments to doctors and hospitals and denying benefits that people want.
He would be a braver truth-teller if he explained how he would go about rationing health care like European countries do. His program would be more grounded in reality if he addressed the fact of chronic slow growth in Europe and explained how he would update the 20th-century model of social democracy to accomplish its goals more efficiently. Instead, he promises large benefits and few drawbacks.
Meanwhile, when asked how Mr. Sanders would tackle future deficits, as he would already be raising taxes for health-care expansion and the rest of his program, his advisers claimed that more government spending “will result in higher growth, which will improve our fiscal situation.” This resembles Republican arguments that tax cuts will juice the economy and pay for themselves — and is equally fanciful.
Mr. Sanders tops off his narrative with a deus ex machina: He assures Democrats concerned about the political obstacles in the way of his agenda that he will lead a “political revolution” that will help him clear the capital of corruption and influence-peddling. This self-regarding analysis implies a national consensus favoring his agenda when there is none and ignores the many legitimate checks and balances in the political system that he cannot wish away.
Mr. Sanders is a lot like many other politicians. Strong ideological preferences guide his thinking, except when politics does, as it has on gun control. When reality is ideologically or politically inconvenient, he and his campaign talk around it. Mr. Sanders’s success so far does not show that the country is ready for a political revolution. It merely proves that many progressives like being told everything they want to hear.