[B]URLINGTON — It isn’t often that Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., comes across as a moderate. Sanders, a self-avowed social Democrat, has long burnished his lefty credentials with the promotion of universal health care, protections for Social Security, free college tuition and higher taxes for the wealthy to support programs that would benefit society at large.
Sanders’ proposals have not gained traction in the House or the Senate over the course of his 27-year career in Congress, but his ideas galvanized a millennial movement when he ran for president in 2016. Sanders nearly ousted Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary and is now considered to be a national standard bearer for the far left.
In the context of European politics, however, Sanders fits right in. At a talk on Friday in Burlington, Sanders and German Ambassador Peter Wittig discussed how health care, immigration, and family support systems work in Germany and how social programs that support low- and middle-income Germans contrast with the go-it-alone policies that have dominated political thinking in the United States.
In a wide-ranging discussion, the two men also discussed the populist wave hitting Europe and America and a current debate over the basing of F-35 warplanes at the Burlington airport.
More than 500 people packed the Universalist Unitarian Church in Burlington Friday night. Sanders at times used Wittig as a sounding board for left of center policies that are standard operating procedure in Germany and other European democracies.
“Describe for us, what life is like in Germany for an average family,” Sanders said. “If I am a woman in Germany, and I have a baby, what type of maternity leave is available?”
German mothers get an extended paid maternity leave of six weeks before birth and eight weeks after birth, Wittig said. For up to three years, both the mother and father can take time off and receive up to 60 percent of their pay. At that point in the discussion, the crowd interrupted with applause.
Sanders engaged in a similar back and forth on health insurance, asking Wittig what the reaction in his country would be if the government floated the idea of throwing “tens of millions of people off health insurance.”
“It would be inconceivable,” Wittig said. The crowd tittered with laughter.
Wittig said the difference between the two countries is cultural. “It is more about individualism here,” he said. “We are coming from a different mindset.”
Immigration is an issue that has roiled both countries. The most critical domestic issue facing Germany now is the integration of about 1 million Syrian refugees, Wittig said. The immigration debate has fueled the rise of a populist movement in Germany, but the arrival of the refugees is also filling a need: Germany has an aging workforce, and young immigrants are critical for the economy.
“It was unprecedented. It was the biggest movement of people from the Middle East since the Second World War,” Wittig said.
In a question-and-answer period, Wittig was asked if Germany would buy F-35 warplanes. Wittig didn’t respond to the question directly. Instead, he described the military as a necessary reality in an uncertain world.
“We have challenges from Russia, so there is a need on defense,” Wittig said.
Another audience member asked if Sanders and Wittig feel their democracies are eroding. The two split. Wittig said that he is concerned about populist movements disturbing a “political consensus” in Germany, but he is not concerned about the republic surviving the current unrest.
In contrast, Sanders says he is worried about President Donald Trump undermining the stability of America’s democracy. “We have a president who is a pathological liar,” Sanders said.
Sanders and Wittig first met last November at the senator’s office. Dan McLean, a Sanders spokesman, said they talked about German apprenticeship and career-training programs — occupation-specific training that often leads to stable careers for Germans.
That conversation led to an invitation to Vermont. Sanders wanted Wittig to help local leaders understand how German apprenticeship programs work. On Friday, the two men were at the Statehouse together promoting the German approach to workforce training. “You had the movers and shakers in that field in Vermont together,” Wittig said. “I think I could elicit their interest in the German system.”
