Do Americans Understand What Bernie Sanders Means When He Talks About Oligarchy?

Progressives love being on the cutting-edge of political terminology. But their words often fail to translate to most Americans.

Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash

Vermont’s Independent Senator Bernie Sanders has been speaking to crowds of tens of thousands of people, numbers nearly unheard of outside of a presidential campaign.

In these speeches, which denounce the direction of the country under the Trump administration, he’s been joined by New York’s Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to denounce what they’re referring to as the rise of an American oligarchy.

Sanders and AOC have large preexisting fanbases that number in the millions, based on the former’s two presidential campaigns and the latter’s popularity on social media. This has given them a base to speak to that is ready to mobilize in opposition to the Trump agenda.

But some in the party are not as pleased with the language that they’re using. Michigan’s Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin is not a fan, according to an article in Politico:

Her strategy also focuses on language and tone. She said Democrats should stop using the term “oligarchy,” a phrase she said doesn’t resonate beyond coastal institutions, and just say that the party opposes “kings.” And to beat their weak and woke rap, Democrats should channel the “no-bullshit” energy of the Lions’ Campbell, she said, “A wonderfully sappy guy with his players,” but who is also “smart and tough and lovable.”

On the one hand, using language that not everybody immediately understands isn’t always a problem. Republican activists made “critical race theory” a popular buzzword among party faithful and helped power wins in races like Virginia’s 2021 gubernatorial race.

But party activists tend to be different than typical voters and ordinary Americans. They read the news more voraciously and tend to stay on top of trending topics and evolving language. Is the average American responsive to the word “oligarchy”?

In his response to Slotkin, Sanders was blunt.

“Well, jeez. We had 36,000 people out in Los Angeles, 34,000 people in Colorado,” told the press about the crowds he has been mobilizing. “We had 30,000 people in Folsom, Calif., which is kind of a rural area. I think the American people are not quite as dumb as Ms. Slotkin thinks they are.”

Sanders is right that his name continues to carry a lot of weight with Americans and his decades of advocacy have drawn him millions of fans who see him as a populist battling America’s wealth inequalities.

But the last part of what’s quoted there is what struck me as prideful from Sanders. His suggestion is that if an American doesn’t understand and resonate with the word “oligarchy,” they’re “dumb.”

I decided to apply one of the skills I picked up in my teacher training years ago to bring a little bit of objectivity to this debate. Teachers use what are called readability formulas to pick on-level readings for students. They don’t want to give kids material that is either too advanced or too simple for their reading level. Readability formulas scan a text and can spit out about the grade level the text is appropriate for.

I put the following Bernie Sanders email, which I got about two weeks ago, into an online readability formula calculator:

Sisters and Brothers:

In unprecedented times, we have to act in unprecedented ways. And, with your support, that’s exactly what we’ve been doing. Our grassroots political revolution is aggressively taking on Trump and the Oligarchy -- and we’re making real progress.

Over the last eight weeks, I have been to 11 states -- Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, California, Utah, Idaho, and Montana -- held 17 rallies and spoken to over 250,000 people. Most of these rallies were held in districts that are represented by Republican Members of Congress. Interestingly, many of the people who showed up at these rallies were Independents or Republicans. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accompanied me at a number of these “Fighting Oligarchy” events and did a fantastic job.

Next weekend, I will be doing a May Day celebration with Pennsylvania trade unionists in Philadelphia and several town meetings in Pennsylvania.

But I want you to know that we’re not just parachuting into communities for great rallies. We’re doing something more. We are working hard to build a sustainable, progressive grassroots infrastructure -- focusing on marginal congressional districts that have Republican Members of Congress. We’ve already hired local organizers in Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan, with more to come. These organizers are building grassroots coalitions with great success. They are already putting together well-attended town meetings where community members come together to discuss local concerns. Over 500 folks were out in Michigan last week and 350 attended a meeting in Wisconsin. They are also organizing door-to-door canvassing, setting up phone-banks and engaging in social media activities. We’re not going to let the Republican Representatives, who prefer to hide from their constituents, escape their responsibilities.

Further, as you may know, we’ve just issued a call for progressives throughout the country to run for office -- from school board, to city council, to state legislature, to the U.S. Congress. The response has been extraordinary. Over 5,000 people, from virtually every state in the country, have expressed an interest in getting involved politically. Some are interested in running as progressive Democrats, others as Independents. We’ll be doing a Zoom call with many of them in the very near future in order to begin providing them with the guidance that new candidates often need.

Not surprisingly, the Establishment has taken note of what we’re doing. Republicans, including Trump and Musk, tried to downplay the size of our rallies. According to Musk, those who attended were mostly “paid organizers.” Really? That’s just another lie.

While members of the Democratic Establishment have occasionally applauded our efforts on the road, a number of them and their corporate media backers are becoming increasingly nervous. They warn their followers that progressives shouldn’t be taken too seriously, that we are “far left,” “extreme” and “out of touch” with American society.

According to these politicians, analysts, media pundits and wealthy campaign donors, the future of the Democratic Party lies in “moderation.” We shouldn’t be talking about oligarchy. We shouldn’t be talking about massive income and wealth inequality. We shouldn’t be talking about the unprecedented concentration of corporate ownership that exists. We shouldn’t be talking about the need to build the trade union movement. We shouldn’t be talking about a corrupt campaign finance system that allows billionaires in both parties to control the political process. We shouldn’t be talking about corporate control of the media.

According to these leaders of the Democratic Establishment, the path forward is to continue doing exactly what they have been doing for the last 10 years. In other words, tell the world how bad Donald Trump is while continuing to defend a rigged and corrupt economic and political system that makes the rich richer, while working families fall further and further behind.

Well. We disagree. Of course we will continue, day after day, to lead the way in exposing Trump’s lies, his kleptocratic behavior which enriches himself and his family, his disastrous economic policies which benefit the rich at the expense of everyone else, his authoritarianism and contempt for the Constitution, his foreign policy which is alienating us from long-time friends and allies. We will do all that -- and more. But that is not enough.

From one end of our country to the other -- in red states, blue states, purple states -- working families, the younger generation, seniors, and the poor are desperately looking for a new and bold vision for America’s future. THE STATUS QUO IS NOT WORKING AND CANNOT CONTINUE TO BE DEFENDED.

Simply stated, in the richest country on Earth, where our productive capabilities are exploding with new technologies, every man, woman and child can and should have a decent standard of living. This is not radical “utopian thinking.” This is not “far left.” This is what we can and should be achieving. This is what we should be fighting for.

What is “radical” and “unthinkable” is that in year 2025, in the United States of America, 60% of our people live paycheck to paycheck and we have some of the highest rates of childhood and senior poverty of any major country. What is “radical” is that we have more income and wealthy inequality than ever before and that, unbelievably, one man (Musk) owns more wealth than the bottom 53% of households. What is “radical” is that we are the only major country not to guarantee health care for all or have paid family and medical leave. What is “radical” is that 800,000 Americans are homeless and that over 20 million households spend over half of their limited incomes for housing. What is “radical” is that we are spending close to one trillion a year on the military, and many billions in weaponry for an extremist Netanyahu government in Israel that has waged a horrific, illegal and immoral war against the people of Gaza.

What is “radical” is that our democracy is being undermined not just by Trump, but by billionaire campaign contributors.

The American people desperately want this country to move forward in a new direction: economically, politically, socially and environmentally. And we should be enormously proud that we’re helping to shape that path. But, let’s be clear. The road forward will not be easy.

We are taking on the Oligarchs and their unlimited wealth, corporate America and the media they own. We are taking on Trump and the Republican Party. And we’re taking on the fossilized section of the Democratic Party which cannot shake loose from their top-down politics, their wealthy campaign donors and their super-PACs.

In this pivotal moment in American and world history, when the stakes are so high for our country and the entire planet, we should not underestimate the difficult challenges that we face. But that should not make us pessimistic. If we stand together, we have the power to create a government and an economy that works for all of us, not just a handful of billionaires.

As Nelson Mandela, one of the great liberation leaders in modern history reminded us: “It always seems impossible until it is done.”

Let’s do it.

In Solidarity,

Bernie

The site used a range of readability formulas to come to the consensus that Sanders’s email was best-suited for the 12th grade reading level.

Now, you might look at that and ask yourself, what’s the problem? American adults are adults, not high schoolers. They’re well past that, right?

Although estimates vary, it’s generally true that the average American reads at about a 7th to 8th grade level.

Does that mean Sanders’s email is a bad email? Not really — Democratic Party fundraising is aimed at the party’s base, which is college-educated and probably is much more likely to know what an oligarchy is than the average American. Sanders is probably the best small-dollar fundraiser in America.

But the grade level here does reveal that Sanders’s language can go over the heads of millions of Americans.

Here in America, we’ve typically used the word to refer to foreign countries. You might notice something about this Google Trends search I did on the term from 2020 through 2023. The biggest spike is in February 2022. That’s the month that Russia invaded Ukraine and the world responded taking aim at Russian oligarchs:

There was another big spike in January 2025. That’s when former President Joe Biden warned that the United States was at risk of turning into an oligarchy:

I imagine that the Sanders/Ocasio-Cortez tour has many more Americans investigating this terminology. And particularly among the college-educated base of the Democrats, learning new terms is like catnip. These are the same folks who have worked to popularize things like cisgendered and latinx.

But all language should be geared towards who you’re speaking to. Sanders shouldn’t jump to the conclusion that someone who doesn’t understand the word “oligarchy” is therefore “dumb.” If I went up to my neighbor and started speaking Mandarin to them, would that mean that they were stupid if they didn’t understand? It just isn’t the language nor the terminology they’re used to in their everyday lives. It’s less a matter of smart and dumb and more a matter of difference.

I’m also on the email list of the Tea Party Patriots. Yesterday I got an email from them that read as so:

Zaid–

Now that that President Donald Trump has hit the milestone of his first 100 days in office and has fulfilled many of the promises he made, we want to do two things: celebrate his accomplishments for the American people and get your feedback about how it’s going and where we need to go from here.

But before we go any further, I also want to thank you because there is no doubt that President Trump is in the White House thanks to the work you did! There would be no “first 100 days” to celebrate without you. Thank you.

Just look at this partial list of the promises made and kept by President Trump in his first 100 days—and keep in mind this is just a list about border security and immigration!

Secured the border — crossings down 95%, gotaways down 99%

Restarted and expanded border wall construction

Launched largest deportation operation in U.S. history

Arrested 150,000+ illegal aliens, including gang members and criminals

Ended catch-and-release

Banned welfare and federal benefits for illegals

Declared violent migrant gangs terrorist organizations

Signed the Laken Riley Act into law

Invoked Alien Enemies Act to dismantle criminal networks

Shut down Biden’s migrant entry app

Cracked down on sanctuary cities

You made all of these achievements possible!

Now, I would be so grateful if you would take just a few minutes to fill out our grassroots survey about how things are going and what you want to see happen in the next 100 days and beyond. Which policies are really happy about and what do you want to see more of? Please fill out the survey as soon as you can, so that we can ensure that Tea Party Patriots Action best represents the grassroots in every way.

I put this one in the same readability formula. The text has exactly an 8th grade reading level — which again is where the average American resides.

I also put President Trump’s State of the Union address in a readability formula. That whole speech was at the 7th grade reading level.

Say what you want about Trump, but he’s known to speak in simple and plain language. Does this make him dumb? I would counter that it makes him accessible.

Does this mean that Sanders and AOC should stop talking about oligarchy? Among their college-educated base, I see no reason why it’s a particularly bad idea. They understand the language and it resonates with them.

There’s also some polling out there from a progressive polling firm showing that most Americans can identify the definition of oligarchy when presented with a multiple-choice question. This isn’t the best polling design in the world, but it’s possible that Sanders and AOC have had some luck in popularizing the term.

But Democrats and progressives need to stop thinking that everyone in America has a college degree and follows every bit of minutiae in the news. Republicans tend to use simpler language, and it’s no surprise that they’ve won the working class’s votes for several elections in a row now. They speak more like ordinary people than Democrats do.

It’s not dumb to not understand every word in the English dictionary. What would be dumb is politicians insisting that we use words that people don’t understand in order to persuade them.