Why do some call Bernie Sanders a socialist?

Answer 1

Because he calls himself one. Paul Krugman, the columnist, once wrote that "Bernie Sanders isn't a socialist but he plays one on TV." That is, Bernie Sanders flavor of Socialism is really more like FDR's New Deal program than anything called socialism in socialist countries. On the other hand, I strongly suspect that Karl Marx would have rejected most of the self-proclaimed Socialist governments of the 20th century as distressingly oppressive. Perhaps even Marx himself would have preferred FDR.