Here's the Philosophical Fight Underlying the Democratic Debate

Jay Newton-Small wrote for TIME about philosophical difference in the Democratic Debate:

Bernie Sanders spun dreams of revolution in Sunday night’s Democratic debate, while Hillary Clinton preached of pragmatism.

That was the gist of their cases to Democratic voters in the last debate before the Iowa caucuses.

Sanders talked of universal healthcare and education and ending war and promised to play Robin Hood, taking from Wall Street and giving that money to everyday Americans. “This campaign is about a political revolution,” he said three times, “to not only elect the president, but to transform this country.”

At every turn, Clinton scoffed at his debate lines as so many pipe dreams. Trashing Obamacare and starting over, she argued, was a political non-starter in an atmosphere where only President Obama’s veto has saved the controversial law from repeal. Free education for everyone is a lovely idea, but she asked how you pay for it with a Republican Congress uninterested in new spending? And empowering Iran to fight a proxy war with ISIS, she said, was plain dangerous.

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