After announcing his candidacy, Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent (and avowed socialist) from Vermont, held a brief press conference to provide an outline of the issues he is to push during his presidential run. I want to first point out, however, that none of these issues are really socialist. They are all pretty much the kind of meat and potatoes served by social democracy.

It's also important to observe the difference between social democracy and socialism. The former is not opposed to capitalism but believes that it should be regulated, contained, and its rewards fairly distributed. Socialism wants to replace capitalism with an economic system that emphasizes cooperation rather than competition. So, when Kshama Sawant, the leading socialist on this coast, pushed for a $15 minimum wage in the 2013 city council race, this was really a social democratic issue and not a socialist one. A wage hike actually benefits capitalism (poor people have more money to spend on products made by capitalists). A socialist does not want to help or improve capitalism in anyway. Let's be clear on that.

In the press conference, Sanders first points out income inequality and also the fact that, in real terms (meaning, when adjusted for inflation), wages have been flat for a very long time—many economists agree that has been the case since the '70s. This issue is not controversial anymore, thanks in part to the popularity of Thomas Piketty's 2014 book Capital in the Twenty-First Century, which provided convincing evidence that the wealth of the rich is increasing and that of the rest is falling. So, on this issue, expect Sanders to receive little to no challenge. Even Mitt Romney made income inequality a part of his platform, when earlier in the year he dallied with the idea of re-running for the Republican nomination.

Sanders's second point concerns the 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United, which basically gave rich people the power to spend unlimited money on political campaigns. Of course, poor people are also free to spend as much as they want on candidates they like. But, as you can see, there is already a logical problem with this kind of freedom. Nevertheless, criticism of the decision or the sea of money that's drowning our democracy is not outside of the mainstream. Even Obama, who convincingly won a second term in office in 2012, openly and even aggressively denounced Citizens United during his 2010 State of the Union address.

Sanders really shows his social democratic colors when he raises the ghosts of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal. How do you solve an economic slump, which always means surplus labor? The F.D.R. way! Meaning, with state-funded work programs—build bridges, dams, railroads, roads, and so on. These are called shovel-ready jobs. Again, this kind of thing helps rather than hurts capitalism, which has jobs for all when it booms but fires anything that moves when it is bust. For the sake of political stability, the government becomes a job creator during busts.

Sanders might be a socialist at heart, but, judging from this press conference, he is running on issues that make the front pages of mainstream news. In short, he is a realist.