Bernie Sanders, democratic-socialist presidential contender, just soared through last Sunday’s debate in Flint, Michigan. Bernie championed race issues, attacked Hillary Clinton and the Wall Street impunity, and defended his recognition of his Jewish roots. He grew up in a post-WWII Brooklyn, New York Jewish community where he remembers he and his brother as “radical, but [they] were part of the crowd, not yet leaders." Bernie and his brother went in very different directions geographically and politically—this is the story of Larry Sanders.
Lawrence Sanders was born April 25, 1934. Growing up Jewish in the 1940s and in the era of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal taught Lawrence that politics has a direct impact on the course of life. His scarcely political parents saw politics as a direct player in the family’s life. While Bernie went off to Chicago for his political science degree, Larry moved across the Atlantic to Britain. He trained as a social worker and started lecturing at the University of West London and Oxford.
Larry was originally and extensively involved with the Labour Party but disagreed with Tony Blair’s management of the party and thought that its direction was too center-pointed. He then moved to the Green Party of England and Wales. Larry spent little money on his campaigns with the Greens, thus losing every election he ran in—but in 2005 he was elected to Oxfordshire County Council in 2005 where he stayed until 2013 representing the East Oxford division. He now serves as the Green Party’s Health Spokesperson following further unsuccessful campaigns in the 2015 British general election (wherein he placed fifth in a bid to represent Oxford West and Abingdon).
The Sanders brothers both lead heavily political lives and it is interesting to note the odd differences between them, especially given their ideological similarities. “The things we are talking about are not very left wing: having a proper health service, having enough money to eat, to heat your home.”(BBC) says Larry of his and Bernie’s political endeavors. While it is strange in politics to see siblings in powerful elected positions on different sides of the pond, it is interesting to note how similar the Sanders brothers can be especially given the completely contrasting political climates of the United Kingdom and the United States.
