Socialist. Communist. Marxist. This is what many critics have called 2016 presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders for his radically favorable, yet necessary stances on social issues, the wealth disparity in the United States and other liberal views deemed heavily left-wing. However, even though these stances may seem to be plotted on the extreme side of the political party line, are his beliefs really that alien, or is his forward thinking mind something that America desperately needs amongst the broken and unjust system that runs against the American people?
Born in Brooklyn New York during World War II, Sanders grew up a very culturally and socially diverse environment, bringing about him seeing all different walks of life and ways of living which definitely aided his ever growing knowledge of the outside world. In his young adult life, Sanders was a very staunch advocate for the Civil Rights Movement, and passionately participated with Martin Luther King Jr. for the 1963 March on Washington. Being so completely moved by the experience, Sanders ended up graduating from the University of Chicago with a political science degree.
In the late 1980s, Sanders ran for the U.S. House of Representatives as an independent to no avail, but re-rain in 1990 and won with over 55 percent of the votes. During his time in the House he was mostly a quiet one, until George W. Bush's first term as president where Sanders voted against many of the former president's proposals such as the imminent invasion of Iraq. Later on he began to criticize and question the grounds on which President Bush went to Iraq in the first place, calling for an immediate impeachment. In 2005, Sanders ran for U.S. Senator and won, with him being reelected in 2012 by 71 percent of the votes.
With social issues, Sanders is an open-minded individual by being in support for LGBT equality and same-sex marriage. He also backs the notion of respecting the reproductive rights of a woman and believes in teaching how to prevent pregnancy with safe sex rather than abstinence. Sanders also believes that women in the workforce should be given the same exact wage as their male counterparts in every sense by adopting a constitutional amendment for equal rights of genders. Alongside that, Sanders clearly sees the wealth disparity in the U.S. and sees it as a serious problem socially as well as economically. He believes that shrinking the wage gap between the classes with a growing and strong middle class, then the economy will be balanced out and will reflect positively from that flourishing sect. With that, he voted to increase the tax rate for those who earn over $1 million.
With his views on corporations, he believes that there should be laws for companies and their abroad endeavors and voted no on giving corporations more tax breaks. He also voted no on allowing telephone companies to be allowed Internet monopolies and wanted to establish “net neutrality" with no one corporation owning the Internet.
Bernie Sanders is the forefront of a new America that must be realized by the citizens.We have been lead astray for too long and we need someone that actually has the interest of the people at heart, rather than corporations or the rich such as those that envelope most of Capitol Hill, both Republicans and Democrats alike.Being independent, he has a level-head and cares about this country that will soon be even more divided and broken if we do not elect someone that cares for those who rarely have a voice.
