The NHS has been run over the last 70 years, and there is no sign of the UK turning into a communist country.
Is the NHS up for sale? Nah, I very much doubt it. This idea was generated by Corbynites just before the general election, probably a scaremongering tactic in desperation to win the election? I seem to remember that the apparently leaked papers have never been disclosed page by page (I may be wrong.) US pharmaceutical companies have always monopolised the global market anyway, so nothing is new, I dare say.

Here's the interview. [cbsnews.com]

The problem is that there is almost a speech code in America against mentioning the full complexity of our foreign policy, e.g. our past interventions against democratically elected foreign governments and current attempts to do so, our current support of authoritarian regimes like Saudi Arabia, and our anticommunist grudge against countries like Cuba. He elaborated on those matters in the debate last night. Cuba is particularly relevant in the state of Florida, where there is a large diaspora of the former Cuban upper class.

The relevant part from the interview:
"Anderson Cooper: What is democratic socialism?

Bernie Sanders: When Donald Trump was a private businessman in New York, he got $800 million in tax breaks and subsidies to build luxury housing. That's called corporate socialism. What democratic socialism is about is saying, 'Let's use the federal government to protect the interests of working families.'

Back in the 1980s, Sanders had some positive things to say about the former Soviet Union and the Sandinistas in Nicaragua.

Here he is explaining why the Cuban people didn't rise up and help the U.S. overthrow Cuban leader Fidel Castro: "…he educated their kids, gave them health care, totally transformed the society, you know?"

Bernie Sanders: We're very opposed to the authoritarian nature of Cuba but you know, it's unfair to simply say everything is bad. You know? When Fidel Castro came into office, you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing? Even though Fidel Castro did it?

Anderson Cooper: A lot of p-- dissidents imprisoned in-- in Cuba.

Bernie Sanders: That's right. And we condemn that. Unlike Donald Trump, let's be clear, you want to-- I do not think that Kim Jong Un is a good friend. I don't trade love letters with a murdering dictator. Vladimir Putin, not a great friend of mine."

@WilyRickWiles Thanks for the explanation. As always, understanding in context is very important.

@Naomi A lot of time was spend on the issue in the debate. Sadly, no one was asked how they felt about Trump's visit with the Hindu nationalist Modi in India, someone many in the party have cozied up to.

@WilyRickWiles Modi! I can never mention his name to my Indian friends - they go nuts! They hate him.

@Naomi There was also an amnesia about Obama's similar comments. [facebook.com]

But WilyRickWiles, surely you have a compulsory education system in America, i.e., state-run basic education availalbe to ALL children without financial discrimination, no?

@Naomi Yes we do for K-12 even though the right has tried to divest from it, something they've done with some degree of success in minority communities. But there are still a lot of blind spots in the teaching of history. Still, I trust young people and millennials to be fairly immune to such propaganda, but the mainstream media and the older people who watch it are not.
[facebook.com]

@WilyRickWiles I like the comprehensive school system in the UK. Comprehensive schools are state-run high schools attended by children from all sorts of backgrounds. They represent a cross section of society, and it addresses socioeconomic diversity.

@Naomi Sounds like a good system.The US at minimum needs to consolidate school districts (which can contribute to segregation) and change funding formulas (from local property taxes). The challenge with the latter is that state budgets are strained with pension obligations (including those of teachers). Decades ago the federal government decided to insure and require minimum funding levels for private pensions but not public ones. They could totally do that now and help states refinance but that's not even part of the conversation. Instead fearmongering about "Cultural Marxism" and unwarranted liberal budget hawkery lead to yet more cuts.

@WilyRickWiles It's very complicated, isn't it? Of course, every country has a unique background - history, culture, social fabric, political landscape, economic reality, legal system, etc., etc. One can't cherry-pick and adopt something from someone else's country and hope for the best. It would be interesting to see who is going to be the next President of the USA.

That is absolutely a complicating factor.

Hello. The video is about democratic socialism, but it seems very hard for Republican supporters to grasp the idea. That's my impression anyway. See how quickly they diverge from democratic socialism to pure socialism and start attacking it here. I wonder if there is a bit of brainwashing/indoctrination going on on the right side of the political spectrum...

@WilyRickWiles
I read this with interest: [rationalwiki.org]
I remember you posted an article similar to this sometime ago.