Bernie Sanders is a millenial’s dream. As a revolutionary thinking, earth conscious, and now bird-loving candidate, he claims to meet the expectations of today’s young and college educated. But, unlike almost everyone else at the University of Colorado Boulder and other liberal towns, I do not support Bernie Sanders as a candidate for the next president of the United States.
However, I do hold a high respect for him as a revolutionary thinker, and I acknowledge that he does a better job of identifying and addressing the most important issues threatening our world than the other candidates we have the misfortunate to choose from.
As I was surfing the Internet this morning, I came across an article and poll from Time Magazine. To follow a brief description about the history of the world’s most influential people was a poll that represented people’s opinion on the matter of who should be Time’s 100th most influential person. As you probably already guessed, Bernie Sanders sat at number one with a substantial lead. What this lead me to believe is that Bernie Sanders has had more influence on today’s American society then Beyoncé, Pope Francis, or Kim Kardashian combined. Talk about mind blowing. His ideas and leadership skills have managed to catch the attention of millions.
Although people may argue that Donald Trump’s tactics had the same impact, it should be noted that Trump didn’t even make the list. Personally, I attribute this to the fact that Donald Trump’s messages are idealistic, unrealistic and distasteful. Instead of his ideas being progressive, like Sander’s, Trump’s are actually regressive. Though both candidates have bold ideas, the definition of bold varies greatly on either side.
The reason I support some of Bernie Sander’s ideas and movements, but not his candidacy, is twofold. Bernie Sanders is wonderful at gathering people around a unifying factor and keeping up positive energy, but he lacks gumption when it comes to fighting a rhetorical battle. As any politician will tell you, it's vital that a candidate is able to make an argument and sway people. This is not how Bernie Sanders rolls. Sanders, simply stated, is not manipulative enough to be the next Democratic Presidential candidate of the United States. This might appear as a positive aspect to supporters, but in the long run it will cause him to be on the losing side when it comes to diplomacy with other contrives and even among branches of the Federal Government. If he were ever elected to sit in the Oval Office, the only way he would ever accomplish anything would be through sheer stubbornness and iron will.
The other reason that I hesitate to pledge my vote to Sanders is that he underestimates the value of capitalism. Capitalism was the founding block of our nation, it was something that our founding fathers built our country upon, alongside freedom and justice. To ignore the historical significance of capitalism is to ignore those Americans who though time, work, dedication, and perhaps a little luck have produced success stories that define the American dream. Take Andrew Carnegie or Cornelius Vanderbilt, for example. These household names started out with nothing, but used their intellect to make a name and money for themselves. If we want to keep the United States of America a world power, financial success will be a big factor in determining the outcome of our fate. A capitalistic and entrepreneurial mindset is vital to the health of our country.
