Bernie Sanders is one of the many Democratic candidates running for the 2016 presidential election. He seemed to have come out of nowhere a few months ago. However, in the last couple of months, Sanders has gained widespread attention and recognition, and it’s nearly impossible to find any political news source who does not view him as a serious competitor for the Democratic vote.
But where did he come from, and why is he gaining so much popularity so quickly? Mostly, it’s because his far left views appeal to a quite sizable portion of the millennial generation, and no other candidate can quite match his stances on the biggest political issues our nation faces today.
To begin with, Bernie Sanders has been a Senator for Vermont since 2007, when he assumed office. Before this, he had many unsuccessful candidacies to become a senator or governor of Vermont, until he was elected mayor of Vermont’s most populous city, Burlington, in 1981. From there, he rose through the ranks to the position he holds today.
He is one of the -- if not the single most -- progressive candidates for the 2016 presidency. His far left views on topics such as climate change, education, income equality, gun rights, infrastructure, healthcare, tax reform, and many other of today’s most prominent societal issues have piqued the curiosity of many, especially the youngest generation of American voters.
As a self-identified “democratic socialist,” Sanders appeals to the most progressive members of our society. There’s quite a stigma attached to the word “socialist” in this country, but hearing Sanders’s views for yourself may make you question exactly why there is such a stigma attached to the word. You may already have an idea of Sanders’s stances just from his party affiliation, but let’s do a quick rundown just for clarity’s sake.
As far as economics go, Sanders firmly believes we need to invest ourselves more as a country into rebuilding our infrastructure. It will be absolutely impossible for the U.S. to remain a world leader with an unemployment rate of over 11 percent and a huge number of entry-level (and even some at higher levels of employment) workers being unable to earn a livable wage.
The next issue is minimum wage. The last time the national minimum wage was raised in the U.S. was July 24, 2009, nearly six years ago. Since then, there has been huge inflation through all markets in the U.S., significantly raising the cost of living. The minimum wage has not been adjusted to fit this inflation, leaving many Americans working over 40 hours a week and still unable to make ends meet. In addition to this, Sanders wants to make it so all Americans get paid fairly for their labor, including women. Women in the U.S. still only make 78 percent of what men make for the same job, and this applies only for Caucasian women. The disparity between African American and Latina women and white men is even larger; with African American women making 64 percent of what Caucasian men make, and Latina women comparing at a mere 54 percent -- nearly half of what a Caucasian male makes for the exact same labor.
Sanders support of major tax reform. We are living in an age of enormous income and wealth inequality, and the working class is carrying this country. It is unfair and simply unacceptable that massive, billion dollar companies have paid nothing in federal income taxes when they could easily afford to, and that corporate CEOs enjoy a tax rate that has them paying less than working class Americans, allowing the rich to get richer, and the class disparity between the rich and working class Americans to become more and more insurmountable.
Sanders is also very liberal when it comes to higher education issues -- a topic that hits very close to home for nearly all of us -- specifically, how it should be more accessible to all members of our society, regardless of race, income, or other socioeconomic factors. Education needs to be affordable for all, from elementary all the way through higher education, and it also needs to be accessible for members of all races of our society. Sanders showed his support for racial minorities and their access to education by voting no on “ending preferential treatment by race in college admissions” in 1998, and expressing a pro-affirmative action stance.
Education is the backbone of our society, and as prices for college continue to rise, our security as a global power is becoming more and more unstable. Without access to higher education, the future of this nation becomes more and more insecure, and in a country where the quality of living is already falling due to aforementioned economic issues, this is a major topic of concern for voters to consider.
Healthcare is also an important issue to Sanders, and he believes that healthcare and access to medical care is something that all Americans deserve, and that this health security should not be dependent on an employer. Many Americans are trapped in jobs that, for one reason or another, are unsuited to them -- whether it’s that they are overqualified for their position, working in a field irrelevant to what they want to do, or flat out don’t like the job, but without the job, their -- or their family’s health -- is in jeopardy, and no American should have to worry about access to healthcare in this day and age.
Last, but certainly not least, Sanders is one of the most LGBTQIA-friendly candidates running in this election. He is rated 100 percent by the HRC, indicating a pro-gay rights stance, and also wants to prohibit employment discrimination based on sexuality and/or gender expression, and enforce more anti-discrimination policies in public schools.
It is worth noting that Sanders is not pursuing funding for his campaign through Super PAC and is, instead, relying on small individual donations. While Hillary Clinton’s major donors include Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase & Co., Time Warner, and Cablevision systems, Sanders’s main supporters include the Mechanists/ Aerospace Workers Union, Teamsters Union, National Education Assn., and Laborors Union. Sanders is truly representing and being supported by people, rather than banks, media outlets, and corporations.
Finally, Sanders is also invested in the continuation and expansion of the preservation of our environment. In 2013, Sanders voted yes on an act that would create the National Endowment for the Oceans, which would place protections on and conserve U.S. ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes ecosystems. He was also rated 90 percent by the LCV, or League of Conservation Voters, indicating that he has strong pro-environment views. Sanders also supported the “cash for clunkers” program, which allowed citizens an incentive program to trade in older, less fuel efficient cars that let off more dangerous emissions for newer, more environment friendly vehicles, which further demonstrated Sanders’s strong stance on environmental protection and conservation.
Sanders is an option like none we’ve had in recent presidential elections, being far more progressive than even most Democrats, and that piques the interest of far left voters. This is rapidly earning Sanders a reputation in the political community.
Whether you agree with his stances or not, one thing is undeniable: Sanders is taking this country by storm. His campaign events have been bringing in enormous crowds, even overflowing the venues he’s appeared at, and in an amazing feat, his visit to Madison, Wis., brought in the largest crowd of any 2016 candidate so far, with an estimated showing of 10,000 people. In addition to this, a poll from June 25 shows him running neck and neck with Hillary Clinton for the Democratic vote.
Could Bernie Sanders bring about a true and tangible change for this country? Only time will tell.
