Greenwich Village Feels the Bern

By Deroy Murdock
Friday, April 15, 2016

New York — As U.S. senator Bernie Sanders (Independent socialist, Vt.) closes in on former secretary of state Hillary Clinton en route to Tuesday’s Democrat presidential primary, he rallied an estimated 27,000 supporters on Wednesday night in Washington Square Park. New York University’s de facto quad was packed — mainly with young people. On a chilly evening, they jammed the area’s sidewalks, filled pathways beneath sprawling sycamores, and stood atop park benches for far-off glimpses of the far-left senator.

Several thousand of Sanders’s fans, and many curious observers, lined Washington Square South and pressed against steel barricades manned by relaxed but vigilant NYPD officers. If turnout in the streets of Greenwich Village translates into turnout at the polls, Clinton’s ten-point lead over Sanders in recent surveys — already down from 21 points last month — may be swamped come Election Day.

While the white-haired, lanky legislator lacks common sense and basic economic literacy, he exudes an odd, disheveled charm. Compared with the grating and transparently synthetic capa of the Clinton crime family, Sanders was gruffly, hoarsely eloquent as he spoke in simple terms about his massive plans for much, much more government.

Sanders addressed Obamacare not as a failed experiment worth repealing but, instead, a down payment on what Sanders considers the real deal: “A Medicare-for-all, single-payer program.”

Rather than rein in America’s federal retirement program as it wheezes toward bankruptcy amid longer life spans, Sanders would “expand Social Security.”

Sanders wants $1 trillion to “repair America’s collapsing infrastructure.” No one wants to see tumbling bridges or “crumbling transit systems,” as Sanders put it. But weren’t Obama’s $830 billion stimulus and its “shovel-ready jobs” supposed to fix this already?

The thousands of students in the crowd applauded Sanders’s pledge to offer free tuition at America’s government colleges and universities. Ditto his proposal for a national moratorium on oil-and-gas fracking — jobs and lower energy costs be damned.

Sanders was as full of gifts as Santa Claus, although his big, red bag also contained fresh taxes for the “millionaires and billionaires” who are naughty, not nice. For them, Sanders would remove today’s cap on the federal payroll tax, which hits only the first $118,500 of personal income. He would tax every dollar above that threshold.

As for American business, Sanders envisions a new levy on overseas corporate profits and something that sounds more like revenge than revenue: a new “tax on Wall Street speculation.”

The 74-year-old correctly called for removing marijuana from the federal schedule of controlled substances. Washington’s War on Marijuana is lost, never should have started, and should end tonight.

Sanders also marveled at Hillary Clinton’s remarks delivered “behind closed doors on Wall Street, where she received $225,000 a speech” at Goldman Sachs “and other giant banks.”

“It must be an unbelievably extraordinary speech,” Sanders said, as the audience chuckled. “It must be a speech that could solve most of the world’s problems. It must be a speech written in Shakespearean prose,” Sanders said, to widespread, derisive laughter. “I kind of think if that $225,000 speech were so extraordinary, she should release the transcripts and share it with all of us.”

Huge cheers!

Even Democrats recognize that Clinton is, at best, shady, if not felonious. The growing distrust in the Duchess of Chappaqua might explain why her 55–34 lead over Sanders in a March 7 Siena College survey of likely Democrat voters shriveled to just 52–42 yesterday. The big question is whether Sanders’s genuine momentum (eight victories in the last nine primaries) can close that gap by Tuesday and actually defeat Clinton in her third home state.

Sanders' left-wing legions pack La Guardia Place, just south of Washington Square Park.

After speaking for an hour and three minutes, Sanders concluded about 9:30 p.m. His throngs of supporters soon fanned out across the Village to go indoors, warm up, and fill their empty bellies. Wearing Bernie stickers and carrying “Not Me, Us” placards, these tranquil socialists quickly occupied restaurant tables throughout the area — an ironic bonanza for the neighborhood’s capitalists.