Bernie Sanders Didn’t Say It

When I wrote a review of the excellent Socialism Sucks by Bob Lawson and Ben Powell, I quoted a passage from it that they attributed to Bernie Sanders. It did sound extreme, even for Bernie, and I should have checked.

Unfortunately, I didn't. That's a problem because Bernie didn't say it.

Here's the relevant passage in my review:

They [Lawson and Powell] quote Bernie Sanders’s 2011 comment that “the American dream was more apt to be realized” in Venezuela than in the United States.

In "The Falsity of the Sanders Venezuela Meme," Ouillette , March 10, 2018, Jack Staples-Butler lays out some excellent detective work in which he explains where the quote came from.

Staples-Butler writes:

So did Sanders write it? This mystery was resolved with a single email to the Valley News Editorial Board. An editor __ named Ernie Kohlsaat replied:

The Aug. 4, 2011, piece you are referring to, headlined “Close the Gaps: Disparities That Threaten America,” was an editorial, not a news article. It was written by a member of the Valley News Editorial Board and as such reflects the opinion of the newspaper. The version on Sen. Sanders’ website appears to be an accurate rendition of the editorial as published on Page A8 of the Valley News on that date.

In 2011, Bernie Sanders reposted the Valley News editorial here, calling it a "Must Read." Of course, you can call something a "must read" without endorsing every single thing in it.

My apologies to readers and, if they're paying attention to my writing, various fans of Bernie Sanders and, of course, Senator Sanders himself.

HT2 David Boaz.

The post Bernie Sanders Didn't Say It appeared first on Econlib.

作者暂无likerid, 赞赏暂由本网站代持，当作者有likerid后会全部转账给作者（我们会尽力而为）。


Support author:
Author's Filecoin address:
Or you can use Likecoin to support author: