The 'New Left' (70s-80s generation post-Nixon Democrats) looked back on the era of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's reign with an accute disgust. They should have recognized him as the hero he was. The man who rescued Captialism from itself, and put the empire on the path to mitigating the Communist threat for another 75 years. Bernie had the chance to serve this role a second time. To save the Capitalist system from its worst excesses and carry it through another century. But they were too shortsighted to see the deal that was being offered to them. They were so scared of losing a handful of privileges that they gambled their heads.