The media has made it clear that Bernie Sanders has no chance to win the general election. Even with that news, why is he still in the spotlight? Other than being an adorable old Jewish man, Bernie has opened the political arena to so many "out there" ideas, and people love that. 2016 will be the first general election that I will be able to vote in and with that excitement came my love for Bernie. He was the first candidate I was exposed to in this election, and I'm sticking with him until the end.The nation is so frightened by the word Socialist, they won't listen to any of his ideas, but let's try and break them down one-by-one, so it's not so scary.
Minimum Wage Reform.
(via teamsternation.blogspot.com)
Bernie wants to raise the national minimum wage to $15/hour. One of the main arguments against this is that people who flip burgers don't deserve that much money. Surprise, fast-food employees are not the only one earning minimum wage. Earners also include retail employees, EMT's, and cashiers. The flaw with this argument is that the current minimum wage is unlivable. The cost of living in the United States is calculated per person, so this wage does not take into account people who must care for others (children, spouse). The minimum wage has not been adjusted for inflation since 2009.
Another argument against reform is that people who work for this amount are lazy and they did it to themselves. What happens to the people who cannot afford to go to college, or have children at a young age, or are trying to pay off school while they attend? Students are still having difficulty finding jobs after college and may need to work minimum wage in the mean time, and if people are struggling to support their children with the current wage, what makes you think they have money to go back to college? The point is that the wage needs to be adjusted for inflation, so that the cost of living matches the earnings.
Free college tuition.
(via Washingtonpost.com)
Bernie wants to provide free college tuition for public universities, stop the government from profiting on student loan debt, and refinance student loans. In order to compete with other nations, we need a highly-educated workforce, making it necessary for college to be available for all. It's time for colleges to profit off of our knowledge and stop profiting off of ours and our parents hard-earned money.
Environmental Justice.
(via Giphy)
Bernie is one of the leading voices behind environmental justice in Washington. It's real, it's happening, and it's already too late. Humans have already accelerated the Earth's live thousands of years, and without change, we continue to harm our planet for future generations. It may not be affecting us right this second, but if we continue down this path, our children will have nowhere to go.
Racial Justice.
(via Google)
Leave it to the old, white, Jewish guy to be one of the strongest proponents of racial justice in our nation. His platform supports many of the demands of Black Lives Matter and has been a race equality activist since the height of racial inequality. He's worried about more than just physical violence, also legal, political, economic, and environmental violence. Let's hop on that train, it's 2016 people, racism should be a word in our history books, not on our streets.
Wall Street.
(via themoderatevoice)
It's time that Democracy returns to a notion of, "We the people," and not "We the people, who bribe politicians to do what we want." Bernie is an avid supporter of real Democracy and wants the money and corruption out of our political decisions. He has never taken money from corporate America in his decades as a Senator, and I'd say he's done pretty well so far without them.
(via usatelections.wordpress.com)
Bernie is argued against as being a Socialist ready to ruin America's economy and give away hard-workers money. The president only has so many powers, there are still 634 other people who have a direct influence on decisions. Bernie has stirred up the political conversation by introducing these seemingly "radical" issues, and has gotten many people interested in politics once again. If you still think Bernie is capable of destroying the economy and turning the US into a socialist nation on his own, maybe you should rethink the definition of Democracy.
(via Pintrest)
Bernie Sanders is the real deal. He has proven his allegiance to this nation and his attitudes towards issues by voting for/against legislation for over 30 years. Yea, he's a politician, but he's like us. Can't say the same for Hillz or the Donald. Whatever the media says, I'm "feelin' the Bern" until the flame runs out.
