Bernard Sanders: A Political Revolution Throughout history, politicians have been portrayed as untrustworthy, liars, and corrupt. The United States has experienced sketchy politicians, even Presidents: Richard Nixon gave America the Watergate scandal and Bill Clinton gave America his infamous sex scandal. In 2015, an independent senator named Bernard Sanders (Bernie Sanders) announced his run for President. Bernie started out as a man no one knew, but millions soon began to feel the bern as he began to distance himself from typical politicians such as his primary rival, Hillary Clinton. Bernie Sanders should be recognized for his positive campaign and issues and his continued fight to change the United States government. The cornerstone of Bernie Sanders campaign was his authenticity. He did not sugar coat or avoid the issues facing Americans and our government. While other politicians danced around and deflected away from having to spend time on certain issues, Bernie was entirely honest about where he stood on the issues and never held back from defending his positions. Millennials are not stupid; they see right through the fakeness of today's politics and mainstream media manipulation. This is why so many were drawn to Bernie Sanders. He wasn t fake. He talked about serious issues with enthusiasm at massive rallies. One of the biggest concerns of Bernie s campaign was campaign finance reform. As other politicians took so called donations from big name corporations and the insanely wealthy (Iacob, Ivona), Bernie was receiving millions in small donations from
everyday Americans. Throughout his campaign, Sanders broke records several times with fundraising. From the start of his campaign in April 2015 and through the next 8 months before the Primary voting season even began, he had already received $73 million in donations (Jamieson, Dave). Although Bernie was very clear in not accepting money from PACs and super PACs, he did receive those that were a part of unions, such as National Nurses United. There is a difference between the few PACs that donated to Bernie versus the large organizations and corporations that donate to other politicians. Bernie held rallies with large crowds and received donations from regular Americans. Meanwhile, other politicians held fundraisers with the wealthy class of America. Bernie was a different candidate, one who truly fought for the average American. Due to the fact that Bernie Sanders wasn t beholden to certain special interest groups, billionaire CEOs, and large corporations, he had no problems saying that climate change is real and is an issue. During the March 6th primary debate, a question was raised on fracking. Hillary Clinton gave a response where she said she approved in some cases and was against it in others. It wasn t very clear though; it sounded like she was trying to watch her words. Bernie s response was simple and to the point: My answer is a lot shorter: no, I do not support fracking. During that same moment, Sanders further showed the difference in how to approach politics when he mentions that Clinton had support of the governors and the Democratic party. Sanders says that I am not a part of that establishment. He further proved to America that he is not a part
of the status quo of our government. (Youtube). He is fully against the the Dakota Access Pipeline, where Clinton has been absolutely silent. Sanders spoke out against the healthcare industry and its rising drug prices and the need for a single payer health care system. Sanders spoke out in favor of this, and millions of Americans believed in him. Unlike the majority of other politicians from this year s election, Bernie was not running for CEO of America, he was running to help America, not help the rich get richer as they hurt our environment and our wallets. Bernie firmly believes that anyone, regardless of their income, should be able to get the best care possible. Health care must be recognized as a right, not a privilege. Sanders health care plan would have saved families making $50,000 a year, $5,807 dollars a year. A plan like this would allow Americans to choose between two jobs without having to consider which has the better health care plan. People could open up small businesses without the hassle of having to supply healthcare. Simply put, Bernie Sanders health care plan would have made things easier and less stressful for everyday Americans. The idea was that if one gets hurt, he simply walks into a doctor's office with an insurance card, gets the help he needs, and have zero worries the potential cost of the visit. Another reason many people, especially millennials felt the bern was that he was actively talking about concerns of today s youth including tuition free college and legal marijuana. While legal marijuana isn t a huge issue facing the United States, Sanders took a very common sense approach to the issue and agrees that the laws
against it were too much. This connects to his approach on the criminal justice system as well. As stated on Sanders official campaign website ( Bernie 2016 ): It is an obscenity that we stigmatize so many young Americans with a criminal record for smoking marijuana, but not one major Wall Street executive has been prosecuted for causing the near collapse of our entire economy. This must change. Sanders gets it. It is not right to punish those for smoking marijuana and ruin their lives while other big crimes get pushed aside due to one s wealth. As for tuition free college, Sanders pointed out that this was not unheard of. For being such a large and powerful country, America does not offer free college unlike smaller countries such as Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Sanders believed that if one has the grades and work ethic, a student should not be unable to attend college due to the worry of debt and the finances involved. Compared to the average price of a fouryear public school in 1965, which was only $243, today s price of college is astronomical. College today is so expensive that on average four-year college graduates are looking at a minimum of 10 years of paying off debt (Bidwell, Allie). One of Bernie s plans was to cut loan interest rates from 4.29% to 2.37% ( Bernie 2016 ). Why would one trust him to do this? Once again, it all goes back to his authenticity. The people supported him and he supported the people, not student loan companies. His proposal on free tuition was so popular that even Hillary Clinton began to talk about such an idea after seeing how popular it was with young people (Saul, Stephanie) as the Primary came to a close and Clinton had won.
Sanders had many fantastic proposals that worked in favor of the people, but many questioned how he would pay for them. These are indeed valid concerns as Sanders health care plan alone would have cost $1.38 trillion per year. The majority of this money would come from the very wealthy top 1 percent of those at the top of America s income bracket. Starting at those who make $250,00 a year, the percent of one s income sent to taxes would increase. 37 percent for those who make between 250,000 and 500,000. 43 percent with an income between 500,000 and 2 million, 48 percent between 2 million and 10 million dollars, and finally, 52 percent on those whose income is more than 10 million dollars. Among those new tax brackets, Sanders would have also close any tax loopholes that prevented people from paying for their fair share of taxes. Some people might say that it isn t fair for those with a lot money to have to pay higher taxes; they clearly earned that job or money through hard work. This is another valid point, but when someone is making $10 million a year, why can t they put around 5 million of it away in taxes to help those are are doing the best that they can, but still aren t doing well because of their own life circumstances? Around $5 million a year after taxes is still a lot of money to continue to live a luxurious life. Not every middle class family is lucky. Some families work everyday just enough to get by with a little extra left. For many, saving money for a vacation to the beach, even just for a weekend, can mean a lot. The billionaires and millionaires of this country make so much money that they don t spend anywhere near enough of it for it to reach those at the bottom.
In conclusion, the Sanders campaign from day one was about the people. It was about changing our messed up government that favors those at the top, it was about saying what was wrong and fighting to change what was wrong, and it was about getting millions involved in politics. Sanders losing is not the end of his Political Revolution. It s just the beginning with the millions of young Americans that he has inspired to bring about the much needed change in our country. We can trust that whatever the outcome of this election is, Bernard Bernie Sanders will continue to fight for the people as a well known and beloved politician.
Works Cited Bernie 2016 https://berniesanders.com/issues/ Bidwell, Allie. "Student Loan Expectations: Myth vs. Reality." U.S. News. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Oct. 16. "Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders on Fracking." Youtube. N.p., 6 Mar. 2016. Web. 1 Nov. 2016. Iacob, Ivona. "The Top Donors Backing Hillary Clinton's Super PAC." Forbes. N.p., 27 May 2016. Web. 1 Nov. 2016. Jamieson, Dave. "Bernie Sanders Has His Own Shadowy Donors And They re Nurses." The Huffington Post. N.p., 2 Feb. 2016. Web. 1 Nov. 2016. Saul, Stephanie, and Matt Flegenheimer. "Hillary Clinton Embraces Ideas From Bernie Sanders s College Tuition Plan." New York Times. N.p., 6 July 2016. Web. 1 Nov. 2016.