There's a lot of mis-characterization (some honest - some malicious) of what Social Democracy actually is. People conveniently omit the "Democratic" operative word in "Social Democracy" - and just run with the triggered terminology circa the Cold War. This is irresponsible and voters aren't as dumb as people think they are on this.

The reality is this: Sanders is promoting *democratic* socialism - not Cuban/Venezuelan communism. To throw those two distinctively different ideologies in the same box is akin to saying that all free-market systems are fascist. What social democracy calls for is an expansion of social guarantees (like we see in virtually all other industrial nations in the world). The Nordic states are far more emblematic of what Sanders represents: universal health care (delivered at a more efficient cost), guaranteed PTO, paid family leave, more robust retirement security, livable wages, higher standards of living and life expectancies etc. What these social democracies also feature are vibrant, robust and competitive economies.

Indeed, free-market innovation has been a deeply American signature - and this would remain so in a Sanders administration. In order to achieve expansion of social guarantees, a robust, innovative and vibrant free-market should be encouraged and celebrated - but not when *everything* in society is bound to market forces - which leads to instability, gross inequality, and lower standards of living, en masse.

To be clear - I've said on many occasions that your candidate is a very smart, formidable debater - and is clearly talented. I also don't take it lightly what it means to have an openly gay man doing so well in the polls. That's something that should be encouraging. But unfortunately, I don't think that his talent is being used to push forth progress and "turn the page" as much as it's being cleverly marketed to freeze the status quo in place.

Re: foreign policy - I've yet to hear an original idea from Buttigieg (outside of his odd statement about sending the military to Mexico to thwart the cartels lol). The only commentary I've really heard of him (outside of vague platitudes) is when he praised Israeli security forces on the same day that Palestinian protesters were being mowed down. He is center-right to where most liberals are on foreign policy. That may be satisfactory to you - but given the urgency for a paradigm shift in how we conduct foreign policy - that simply doesn't pass muster - particularly with a candidate as inexperienced as Buttigieg - who would assuredly defer to the foreign policy establishment on critical issues.


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