On a chilly day in downtown Youngstown, hundreds of people were feeling the Bern. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders visited the Covelli Center just before the primary election on Super Tuesday. The doors for the event opened at eight on Monday morning, but crowds had begun lining up at 11 the night before. I spoke to one young gentleman that had purchased a tent in preparation for the rally, and he and his friends slept in it overnight to make sure they got the ideal spot to see their candidate. “I don’t know, he just makes me feel really excited about politics!” he exclaimed.

And that kid was not the only one who found himself excited about politics due to Bernie Sanders. The seats of the Covelli Center were filled with a variety of personalities; there were older veterans, middle-aged men and women, and an overwhelming number of young people in the crowd. As a “Millennial,” I felt proud to look around and see so many people my age coming together behind a man that they think will change the country for the better. The media tends to downplay Sanders’s run because of the younger crowd that he draws, but here’s the biggest thing about that: millennials are going out and educating themselves about politics because they see how disastrous this election could turn out, and they know that Bernie can make a difference. It’s our future, and we see Bernie as the leader that will give us the most hope and the best living conditions in this country.

Sanders took the stage around 11 A.M. and spoke to the diverse crowd for about 40 minutes. In that time period, he covered topics including education, unemployment rates, the economy, women’s rights, and “equal justice under the law.” He spoke about charging those who commit crimes on Wall Street just as harshly as a young black male would be charged for possession of marijuana; he spoke about offering women more paid maternity leave and offering husbands the same opportunities so that they can watch their children grow; he spoke about raising the minimum wage and helping those who are drowning in student loan debt.

A lot of people are skeptical about just how Bernie plans to make all of these dreams a reality. “Someone has to pay for it,” they claim. Sanders has an answer for them: “You have major corporations making billions of dollars a year in profit, and you know what they do with their profits? They stash their money in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and other tax havens. At the end of a given year, some of these corporations do not pay a nickel in federal income taxes. We’re gonna do away with that loophole.” Sanders says that this will generate millions of dollars in revenue that can help the lower class citizen live life more comfortably.

Let me stop you right there if you’re thinking “so you like being taxed more?” I cannot tell you the number of times that I’ve been asked that when I say I’m a Sanders supporter or been called a socialist. Here’s what I have to say about that (and I think Bernie would stand by this as well): I will never be part of the top 1 percent in this country. Hell, I’ll never be in the top 20 percent of money makers in the United States. If I were, though, I would gladly share my wealth with the less fortunate. So what if I’d have to pay higher taxes if it meant that students could receive a college education for free? Other countries are thriving by doing this, and I think it’s sad that we’re so far behind. In the United States, money has become synonymous with power (and politics, right Donald?) and it’s time to put a stop to that. I want a better country for myself and my kids to live in, and it takes a genuinely good person to know what’s best for the people of a country and not just themselves.

So, besides an overall better America where the rich don’t just get richer and the poor just get poorer, an increase in jobs and a decrease in crime, and a more educated population, what does Bernie Sanders have to offer? “A future to believe in.”