Being a millionaire doesn't hurt Bernie Sanders' cause. In many ways, it helps it

You have a choice if you grow up in modern circumstances like Sanders. And the easiest option is to blame people like you who didn't make it for their own misfortune

Insurgent presidential candidate and standard bearer for the American left Bernie Sanders has just released his tax returns. They show something shocking: he’s a millionaire.

The income reported by the self-declared “Democratic socialist” had his critics positively purring.

Their line of attack? Because Bernie is, by the standards of most Americans, filthy rich, it undermines his message. How can he possibly waltz around banging the drum for the poor and dispossessed when he’s a one-per-center?! He’s a con, I tell you, a con!

As an argument, it has more holes in it than Donald Trump’s immigration policy. But that shouldn’t come as a great surprise because his critics have no interest in arguments. They just want to skewer him, all the more so now they’ve found out he’s letting the side down.

I mean, how dare he? He dare break the rules by continuing to give a crap about the average American when he’s joined our club? He’s letting the side down. People like us, we’re supposed to get down with corporate Democrats if we want to give people the impression that we have a social conscience, the people who are, today, some way to the right of where the Republican Party was before Ronald Reagan got hold of it. We’re certainly not supposed to do things like argue for higher taxes for rich people and rich corporations, advocate for universal healthcare, call for decent wages and free college, or any of the other stuff Bernie’s been banging on about.

At a televised town hall hosted by Fox News, Sanders said he would not apologise for his recent good fortune, much of it stemming from a book he penned that became a global bestseller (although as a member of America’s upper house he’s also on a good salary).

And, well, why on earth should he? The suggestion is downright bizarre. The fact that he’s still fighting for the same thing — a better shake for the teaming mass of Americans who haven’t shared in the growth of the economy as he has — is admirable.

It shows he has something that his critics don’t have: principles, which he hasn’t allowed to become diluted through serving as a mouthpiece for corporate donors like so many in American politics.

Part of what motivates him is clearly the childhood he writes of in Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In. He grew up in up in a household that lived from pay cheque to pay cheque (I know the feeling).

You have a choice if you grow up in circumstances like that and later find yourself in a better place. You can congratulate yourself and lecture those who are still struggling. JD Vance, the author of another bestselling book, Hillbilly Elegy, provides a good example of this. He largely blames the people of the rust belt where he grew up for their misfortunes. The conservative Republican, and mooted future presidential candidate, got out, thanks in no small part to his tough grandmother who served as his guardian. He eventually became a successful venture capitalist.

Alternatively, you can continue fighting for people who are still struggling through difficult economic circumstances that are no fault of their own, like Bernie has. The latter course is the more noble one.

At this point I’m reminded of a quote from legendary soccer manager Brian Clough, a lifelong member of the British Labour Party, who sometimes found himself taking the same sort of flak as Bernie is now getting for his political beliefs.

“Of course I’m a champagne socialist,” Clough fired back at his critics. “The difference between me and a good Tory is he keeps his money while I share mine.”

That’s one Bernie could easily adapt.

And, of course, we only know that he’s become a one-per-center through his doing with his tax returns something that Trump has consistently refused to do.