Bernie Sanders cast himself as the natural successor to President Franklin D Roosevelt on Thursday. In his speech at georgetown university, he placed his "democratic socialism" at the heart of an American political tradition. USA TODAY 
 
 Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks at Georgetown University on Nov. 19, 2015, about democratic socialism and combating the Islamic State. (Photo: Mark Wilson, Getty Images) 
 
 Corrections and clarifications: An earlier version of this story misspelled Livia Matteucci's name. 
 
 WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders, hoping to dispel the notion that his ideas are “radical,” defined his democratic socialist political philosophy on Thursday as a belief that economic rights are essential to American values. 
 
 Sanders, a Vermont independent running for the Democratic presidential nomination, told a packed auditorium at Georgetown University he doesn't believe the government should “take over the grocery store down the street” or own the means of production. 
 
 But he hopes to build on the fight for economic rights led by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and later by Martin Luther King Jr., who decried “socialism for the rich and rugged individualism for the poor.” 
 
 Sanders, who has long promoted the values of Scandinavian countries, also said he would look to other countries that “have done a far better job” in protecting working families, elderly, children, sick and poor. 
 
 “Democratic socialism means that we must reform a political system which is corrupt, that we must create an economy that works for all, not just the very wealthy,” he said during a speech that lasted more than an hour. 
 
 Speaking six days after the terrorist attacks in Paris, Sanders called for a new organization, similar to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, that would allow current NATO partners, Russia and members of the Arab League to work together in confronting today’s security threats. 
 
 Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks at Georgetown University in Washington on Nov. 19, 2015. (Photo: Carolyn Kaster, AP) 
 
 But he used the bulk of his speech to explain his political views, attempting to show how they fit within mainstream Democratic ideas. He highlighted what he believes are democratic socialist policy goals — such as health care as a right, free college tuition, investment in jobs and a living wage, and public funding of elections. 
 
 “We need to develop a political movement which, once again, is prepared to take on and defeat a ruling class whose greed is destroying our nation,” he said. “The billionaire class must be told loudly and clearly that they cannot have it all.” 
 
 The much-awaited speech drew cheers from college students who waited in long lines in the rain to attend. The line for the 2 p.m. event began forming inside the building at 5:30 a.m. 
 
 Livia Matteucci, 21, a psychology major from Houston, said she and other Georgetown students support ideas such as paid family leave and a higher minimum wage. But she questions whether such goals are attainable. 
 
 “In a Congress that is so deadlocked — and I’m frustrated by it — I don’t know how it will be accomplished,” she said. “I don’t want to be cynical, but I want to be realistic.” 
 
 Sanders, who answered questions submitted by students, said he understands that “some people are uncomfortable” with the word “socialist.” 
 
 He said Roosevelt also fought cynicism when he “reinvigorated democracy” and “transformed our country.” 
 
 “And, by the way, almost everything he proposed … was called “socialist,” Sanders said, drawing laughter. 
 
 Sanders said it's time to achieve the vision for a “second Bill of Rights” that Roosevelt highlighted in his 1944 State of the Union address. The idea links economic security to the concept of freedom. 
 
 “It is a vision that we have not yet achieved, and it is time that we did,” Sanders said. 
 
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 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1O6EyDD ||||| In a speech today at Georgetown University, Bernie Sanders laid out his vision of democratic socialism for the 21st century, and from the perspective of some lefties, he seems to have forgotten the socialism part. As Sanders himself said in the speech, "I don't believe government should own the means of production" a point that Bhaskar Sunkara, founder of the socialist magazine Jacobin, argues drains the socialist project of a crucial element of power. 
 
 Socialists care about power — ownership and control. Missing from Sanders, but it's not a bad starting point. — Bhaskar Sunkara (@sunraysunray) November 19, 2015 
 
 But as Daniel Schlozman, a political scientist at Johns Hopkins University whose recent book When Movements Anchor Parties includes a detailed study of the origins of the New Deal coalition, points out, Sanders's project is really framed to try to bridge the gap between socialism and liberalism — to bring back a framework that was operative during the Great Depression and World War II but collapsed soon after. 
 
 "In 1944, in his State of the Union speech, President Roosevelt outlined what he called a second Bill of Rights," Sanders said. "This is one of the most important speeches ever made by a president, but unfortunately it has not gotten the attention that it deserves." 
 
 The speech was delivered in the middle of an enormous war that saw the United States closely allied with the Soviet Union. Consequently, Roosevelt's call for a "clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence" resonated not only with mainstream liberal Democrats but also with socialists, communists, and others on the far left of the political spectrum. 
 
 3. Second Bill of Rights last moment when entire left -- CP, socialists, Dems -- behind a common agenda. #BernieAtGU — Daniel Schlozman (@daschloz) November 19, 2015 
 
 As a policy agenda, it went nowhere. 
 
 Democrats had the majority in both houses of Congress, but in practice a coalition of conservative Southern Democrats and conservative Republicans held sway. 
 
 4. The conservative coalition -- GOP and Jim Crow Dems -- stopped 2nd Bill of Rights in its tracks, we lost moment for social democracy. — Daniel Schlozman (@daschloz) November 19, 2015 
 
 But not only was the policy agenda halted, the political coalition that undergirded it collapsed during the Truman administration. The war between the United States and Germany ended, and the United States and USSR found themselves engaged in proxy wars in Greece and Turkey; then the United States and China were in a shooting war in Korea. 
 
 5. And it also divided the left as Cold War battle lines hardened. @BernieSanders speech and candidacy aims to heal that breach. — Daniel Schlozman (@daschloz) November 19, 2015 
 
 It's no coincidence that Sanders — like Jeremy Corbyn in the United Kingdom — draws his strongest support from the youngest cohort of voters. To people under 30, the Cold War isn't even really a distant memory. It's simply an event from the past, no more directly relevant to present-day politics than World War I or the decline of the Roman Empire. That means the door that was shut back in the Truman years is opening up again.
– Democratic socialism is nothing to be afraid of unless you think of FDR as a bogeyman, Bernie Sanders said in a landmark speech at Georgetown University on Thursday. "Democratic socialism means that we must reform a political system [that] is corrupt, that we must create an economy that works for all, not just the very wealthy," he said, per USA Today, explaining that he doesn't believe that "government should take over the grocery store down the street or own the means of production." He quoted Martin Luther King Jr., who said the US has "socialism for the rich and rugged individualism for the poor." Sanders—who said other countries "have done a far better job" in protecting the elderly, the sick, and the poor—likened the inequality in the US today to that of the Great Depression and noted that FDR was called a socialist for trying to deal with it, CNN reports. "Real freedom must include economic security," he said. "That was Roosevelt's vision 70 years ago. It is my vision today. It is a vision that we have not yet achieved. And it is time that we did." Sanders' plan isn't true socialism, but it "is really framed to try to bridge the gap between socialism and liberalism—to bring back a framework that was operative during the Great Depression and World War II but collapsed soon after," writes Matthew Yglesias at Vox. (Sanders was very pleased when Pope Francis praised a "radical Catholic activist" during his US visit.)