Bernie Sanders invoked the name of Franklin D. Roosevelt yesterday afternoon during a speech on Democratic Socialism.

“Against the ferocious opposition of the ruling class of his day, people he called economic royalists, Roosevelt implemented a series of programs that put millions of people back to work, took them out of poverty, and restored our faith in government. He redefined the relationship of the federal government to the people of our nation. He combatted cynicism, fear and despair. He reinvigorated democracy. He transformed the country, and that is what we have to do today,”

And the crowd cheers:

Bernie Sanders is the second coming of FDR. #FeelTheBern

— Mickey D (@Urza83) November 20, 2015

Bernie Sanders' speech today revealed what I've long argued he is — a wonderful & unreconstructed 21st century FDR New Dealer/

— Katrina vandenHeuvel (@KatrinaNation) November 20, 2015

And the crowds kept cheering…

"FDR programs have become the fabric of our nation and the foundation of the middle class."- @BernieSanders #BernieAtGU

— Chicago For Bernie (@Chicago4Bernie) November 19, 2015

So did FDR reincarnate into Bernie Sanders?

Because I would totally bet on it.

— Komorebi (@ScarletOharaa) November 18, 2015

Wait, not this crowd:

I’ll spare everyone photos of the other “crowds” who have become victims of Socialism. Most people frown upon seeing photos of starving individuals and mass graves in the morning. However, for the kids at home who are screaming, “But it’s DEMOCRATIC Socialism, not Socialism,” the difference between Democratic Socialism and Socialism is really quite mild. It means people would influence collective government through their vote. In short: Sanders still wants public agencies and private organizations to pay for your useless degree in Gender Studies, which he feels is a separation between Socialism and the Democratic infused alternative.

Examples of Democratic Socialism include Greece, Austria, a handful of Scandinavian countries, etc… While the left sings the praises of these countries, they are run by high taxes and exorbitantly large welfare systems. In addition, it disregards, well, basic rights. Much like FDR’s minimum wage, unions, and Social Security, socialism of any kind seems like a great idea until one day you wake up and it’s stabbing your economy, job growth, and personal rights repetitively. Political liberty and economic freedom, our foundation, is antithetical to Democratic Socialism, period. John Pethokoukis broke a few of Sander’s points down here.

1) Sanders said the “reality is that for the last 40 years the great middle class of this country has been in decline,” something which certainly isn’t statistically true. Middle-income living standards have actually risen by something like 40-50%. Even the New York Times has noted how the middle class, at least through 2000, only got smaller “because of more Americans climbing the economic ladder into upper-income brackets.” And as Obama White House economist Jason Furman said before he became an Obama White House economist, ” …  people are substantially better off than they were 30 years ago.”

Additionally, I’d like to add that Socialism always fails. The power hungry just get hungrier, and you’ll find that those who propose socialist ideals often see humans as pawns in a game – like Roosevelt and the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII, and the “Muslim registration” Donald Trump is in full support of.

Bernie is right, though, FDR was a bastion of power hungry positive rights and government control. On January 11, 1944, Franklin Roosevelt delivered a State of the Union address in which he proposed a “Second Bill of Rights,” it consisted of the following:

The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the Nation;

The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

The right of every family to a decent home;

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident and unemployment;

The right to a good education.

So, you know, not rights. See the address below:

The inconvenient truth is that FDR held views which were in opposition to what one might call a “moral upper hand.” Similar to our current President, he ignored atrocities. While he is seen as a humanitarian for his collectivist views, known as a politically brilliant individual, and touted for his New Deal, which is credited with ending the Depression, when in reality that should be credited to WWII, he is also known for looking the other way. His proclivities are addressed in this article:

This is a Roosevelt who almost always had a more pressing political concern — American isolationism, American anti-Semitism, a fear and hatred of immigrants — and who stayed mum while a bill to allow 20,000 Jewish children into the United States died in Congress.

Roosevelt inattentively also permitted a cabal of heartless anti-Semites in the State Department to control the country’s visa policies. Desperate Jews, fleeing from the Nazis, were denied asylum in the United States. One of them was Otto Frank. His daughter Anne perished at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

The author continues:

But it is also true that Roosevelt did not even mention the mass murder of Jews until 1944, by which time most of Europe’s Jews had been killed. He showed almost no leadership on this issue, refusing to confront nativist anti-Semitism and fear of foreigners. He did little to warn either Germany or its satellites — Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, among others — that they would pay for their treatment of the Jews. And while nothing could deter Hitler from trying to kill every last Jew, the satellites grew increasingly less zealous as it became clear that they were on the losing side. It took an outright German invasion of Hungary for over 400,000 of its Jews to be murdered.

Bernie speaks of a gentler approach to Socialist policies, being viewed as a “moderate Socialist” by many. However, the secret nobody wants to talk about is that the “gentler approach” has been touted by many, including those “successful” Scandinavian countries Bernie praises, but once money starts to dissipate, and people begin to grow weary of being controlled, more power is always executed. Then it grows, and grows, and grows, and before you know it we’re talking about a “gentler version” of a word that begins with “C” and ends with “ommunism.”

Wall Street is acting as though more government intervention will calm financial markets, when it is the government’s excessive intervention that created the crises in the first place. Greece is socialism on steroids — a place where the government gives a lot of things away for free, few people work and millions receive government pensions, paychecks or welfare benefits. Fifty percent of young people don’t have a job and over half of Greeks retire before age 60. The wagon is full and no one is left to pull it. Now Greece thinks that the Germans or the EU, or the IMF or the United States is going to pay for it all. The crash is coming very soon and the standard of living in Greece will surely plummet. Thank you, socialism.

But there are so many more dominoes that could come crashing down. Almost all of Europe is a financial sinkhole. The debts as a share of GDP are 100 percent or more and the public spending as a share of GDP is now just shy of 50 percent.

Bernie Sanders needs to learn the difference between a “right” and a “privilege,” this will tell him and his followers why Roosevelt’s Second Bill of Rights not only failed, but would have negated the real Bill of Rights. Roosevelt’s Bill of Rights was a direct enemy to the real thing in that it planned on stealing money to make phony guarantees. A right is the ability to decide and make a choice; Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Emphasis on “pursuit.”

A right originates within all individuals; women in the Middle East have a right to not be enslaved, children have a right to not be butchered for their parent’s faith, etc… They need no permission to exercise such rights, and that is why their plight is a human rights issue. A right does not require permission by government, or at least it shouldn’t. A privilege is what you are allowed to do. You are allowed to seek education, it is not a right. You are allowed to seek a job, it is not a right. You have a right to life and self protection, but the government doesn’t have to purchase you a gun. Get it? Governments don’t grant rights, they do however take them away. Big government Bernie is no different.

“The enduring lesson of the 20th century is that socialism is a failure, and free markets are a success. But the politicians keep advocating just a little more socialism.” – Milton Friedman