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Comment by kynikos | Hacker News Reader

As a resident and commnications director/volunteer for a couple of campaigns, I've learned a Republican in Vermont is almost always like a Democrat in any other state.

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Living in Europe, never having set a foot in the US, I take the bait: what is a Democrat like in Vermont then ?

Bernie Sanders (Independent - VT) is the nation's only socialist Senator.

*he's the only self-proclaimed socialist. Surely there are more who possess similar ideologies, but aren't outwardly socialist.

Difficult to say, but i doubt it.

When it comes to whipping votes (getting the party members to vote along party lines) only he and Angus King have the ability to claim no affiliation to the Democrat ticket, but Maine is a much more centrist state than Vermont. The house does not currently have any third party members.

Since voting is what matters (not privately held views), i'd say that he is indeed the only socialist in washington. If you insist on nitpicking about personal views, i'd say that perhaps you could include some representatives from the bay area, portland oregon, vermont (particularly the college towns), but that's about it. Many people always assume that the politicians hold secret views (shockingly similar to the those of the people who tend to believe it), but i honestly see no reason why people assume this. If someone has the forum to spread views the truly believe in, i don't seem much reason why they wouldn't.

I was thinking less along the lines of secret views, and instead, on how many people hold socialist-like beliefs without associating themselves (internally, not outwardly) with the word "socialist".

In the modern U.S., "socialist" and "communist" have become derogatory terms more than anything else, and their colloquial meanings are rarely consistent with any formal definition. Because of this stigma, it's easy for one to possess socialist beliefs while simultaneously dismissing all things "socialist", as they are universally negative.

Scott DesJarlais fits into the category of politician preaching what he doesn't believe. Also probably the most disliked man in Washington.

No, I doubt it. The political left in the US is really pretty much extinct. What we have here are conservatives (Democrats) and reactionaries (Republicans). Both are corporate-friendly.

Someone like Bernie Sander[1], who is a self described socialist.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Sanders

In Burlington (the smallest biggest city in any state), our local elections are between Democrats and Progressives. Republicans don't even make the ballot.

Probably like a liberal in Europe, as opposed to most Democrats that are more conservative than most European liberals. As a single example, Vermont is going down the road of actually enacting a single payer healthcare system at the state level, which is politically impossible nationally.

I was told by a German, who had lived in the States for a few years in the past, that American Democrats resembled German conservatives. If that's the case it's hard to imagine what the German/European counterpart to a Republican would be.

Their economics are close to liberals (not the american definition). I don't think there is an equivalent for the religious right. At least not in Germany

Are Democrats more likely to oppose the war on drugs?

No, nor have they historically been more likely to oppose mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines. See http://www.amazon.com/First-Civil-Right-Political-Developmen...

Also, big disclaimer, the author of the aforementioned book and I dated for four years.

They are responsible for minimum sentencing laws:

http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/04/a-timeline-of-the-ri...

> June 19, 1986: College basketball player Len Bias dies of a cocaine overdose, which highly politicized the drug debate during a mid-term election year, as Frontline explains. In 1999, Eric Sterling, a former lawyer for the House Judiciary Committee would go on to explain to This American Life how Democrats, in an effort to recover from their soft on crime reputation, pushed through a drug bill that introduced mandatory minimum sentences.

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/143/s...

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