I would like to think our Founding Fathers instead imagined a country in which the son of a Kenyan and the daughter of a WWII veteran have a son that grows up to be the President of the United States. But come 2016 that dream of hope and change will set, and a new polished turd promise of hope and change just like the old one will rise to disappoint us yet again.
But on one late April day, a self proclaimed socialist from Brooklyn announced his run for President. Bernie Sander's career launched in 1971 when he joined the Anti-Vietnam War Liberty Union Party in Vermont. After a series of unsuccessful runs for Senate and Governor of Vermont, Sanders finally was victorious in 1981 when he ran for Mayor of Burlington, Vermont. He defeated six-time Democratic incumbent Gordon Paquette by 10 votes. He won another three consecutive terms as Mayor, and in his last election in 1987 he defeated a candidate with the political backing of both parties.
Bernie Sanders identifies himself as a Democratic Socialist, and gained popularity in Vermont because of his strong policies supporting the poor and working class. Since he announced his bid for the Presidential nomination, much of the mainstream media has caricatured this long-time Washington veteran as an anarchic Marxist communist ready to dismantle the entire capitalist institution.
A thorough look into Bernie Sander's political platform reveals that his ideas are pretty mainstream. He has had a long record of fighting to close the income inequality gap, he has pushed for taxes on the top 1% of the wealthiest in the country. Sanders even introduced the Democracy is For People amendment to overturn the Supreme Court's Citizen United decision. The same decision that ultimately ruled that corporations had the first amendment right to spend unlimited amounts of money in order to influence elections. In fact, a recent New York Times poll shows that 80% of Republicans believe that money has too much influence in politics, illustrating clearly that Sander' political platform is not only the voice of the majority of liberals but of conservatives as well.
Thankfully, the now Senator from Vermont has had a bit of a momentum lately. He has in just the last week alone appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers as well as The Rachel Maddow Show and has had quite a few interviews on CNN and other MSNBC shows.
Katie Couric asked Sanders "Do you think that a lot of Republicans, though, you know, when it comes to compromising in general, they look at you and say 'Bernie Sanders? No way Jose, he is just too far left for us to even-" "They are saying that?" interjected Senator Sanders "Yeah." "These people who want to cut social security, cut medicare, cut medicaid, and give tax breaks to billionaires at a time we have more income and wealth inequality? Who reject science? Who like a campaign finance system that allows billionaires to buy elections? They are telling the American people that I am too extreme? Sorry, don't buy it." Clearly the Senator from Vermont has come to this campaign guns fully loaded.
Bernie Sanders recently came forward with a few proposals to change the debate structure so that Democratic and Republican Candidates can debate before either party chooses its Presidential Nominee. When asked by Rachel Maddow what was the reasoning behind this, he said it was because the "Republicans get away with murder."
He continued to explain that such a debate before the primary season would reveal the emotional politics behind the Republican party, which would expose the Republican party for what they really are; fear inducing war mongering science rejecting capitalists.
Bernie Sanders seems to be the only legitimate Democratic candidate running right now. Hillary's centrist policies that cater to big banks and do little to nothing for working class and poor Americans can no longer be tolerated. In fact, during her 2002-2008 run as a New York Senator, Hillary Clinton's female staff members were paid approximately $15,708.38 less than her male staff members. The same candidate that claims that she is going to fight to close the gender pay inequality gap did not bother to remember her cause while she was an employer.
We do have to keep in mind that the election is 18 months away, and there is no reason anyone should be coronating Clinton as the Democratic Nominee. Bernie Sanders reflects the voices of Americans across party lines. He is a candidate that does not take donations from the big banks that he wishes to regulate heavily. Majority of his campaign donations come from labor unions and small donations by everyday Americans.
If there is any candidate that most accurately and directly addresses the issues that are plaguing our nation, and has actual solutions to these issues. Such as climate change, gerrymandering, gentrification, income inequality, government interference with civilian privacy, gender pay inequality. If there is any candidate that is prepared to propel America into the future by investing in our crumbling infrastructure and taxing Wall Street speculations in order for the government to insure that public and state colleges are free for its citizens in order to increase their quality of life. If there is any candidate that is willing to ditch dark money in our democracy and will crush the oligarchy that our democracy has become. If there is any candidate that wants to stop big banks from playing with the economy and subsidizing them so they are no longer "Too big to fail". That candidate is Bernie Sanders.
You can learn more about policies and his political record and even donate to Presidential Candidate Bernie Sander's campaign or sign up to volunteer at https://berniesanders.com/
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