Bernie Sanders, the leading candidate for the democrats who is best described as a “socialist democrat”, has been attracting attracted some of the largest crowds at his rallies from any of the presidential candidates and is fast becoming a real proposition for the next role as president of the United States. Bernie it seems is the man in the moment and when one actually listens to his extremely direct interviews, you can only applaud him. A revolution of the corporate USA would on the horizon
But who is Bernie Sanders?
He is 74 and is the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland and has credited his upbringing in a struggling working-class family for inspiring his drive to resolve economic disparity. He is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2016 election.
He’s been talking about the injustices and inequalities done to working people by unequal income distribution for more than forty years. He favours tax reform that would increase rates on the wealthy, calls for greater oversight of Wall Street, believes in a state-administered health care system and is pro-choice and same-sex marriage.
Previous experience
He became US Senator for Vermont, elected in 2006. Sanders sought to switch to the Senate in 2006, running against Republican businessman Richard Tarrant. As a self-described “democratic socialist,” he managed to defeat Tarrant despite the latter’s much more substantial funding. Tarrant spent $7 million of his own personal wealth in this election battle. He is the longest serving independent member of the House of Representatives in US history.Bernie Sanders first rose to elective office in 1981 and holds an elected position to this day. Sanders has served as an elected official for a total of 34 years and counting, which is 19 more than the average 2016 presidential candidate (15 years).
Inspiration
What inspires Mr Sanders is the economic disparity in America and is making this the heart of his politics and as such is drawing huge crowds and admirers.Since joining the Senate, Sanders has received the most attention for his gestures of defiance—such as his marathon oration against tax cuts for the wealthiest.In 2010, Sanders made the news with hiseight-hour-long filibuster against the extension of Bush era tax cuts for the wealthy. He felt that this legislation was “a very bad tax agreement” between the president and Republican legislators, he later wrote in the introduction of The Speech: A Historic Filibuster on Corporate Greed and the Decline of Our Middle Class. Sanders ended his time on the Senate floor with a plea to his legislative colleagues to come up with “a better proposal which better reflects the needs of the middle class and working families of our country and to me, most importantly, the children of our country
Presidential Run
In October, Mr Sanders drew a crowd of more than 20,000 at a rally in Boston.Written off in the earlier parts of the campaign, he has continued to attract an audience and seen his deficit in polls reduce.Sanders has made impressive strides in challenging Clinton during the presidential primaries and gaining favor in the polls. The most recent Quinnipiac University poll (released in February 2016) shows that he was favored above all the top running candidates and would even beat out Republican frontrunner Donald Trump — 49 to 39 percent, respectively — in a general election. (Sanders’s numbers surpassed Clinton’s 46 to 41 percent matchup with Trump.
Stance
What defines Sanders’s campaign is his call for a “political revolution,” which asks for everyday people to become active in the political process and be the change they want to see on any given issue.
The other trademark is his fight to take corporate money out of politics, specifically, overturning the Citizens United ruling, which allows corporations and the wealthy elite to pour unlimited amounts of money into campaigns. Such money, Sanders vehemently argues, undermines democracy by skewing policies that favor the extremely rich.
Political funds
Bernie it seems relies almost solely on small individual donations to run his presidential primary race. To the surprise of many , he has made an unprecedented mark on campaign fundraising in American politics. In December 2015 Time magazine wrote “Bernie Sanders has broken the fundraising record for most contributions at this point in a presidential campaign,” even surpassing President Obama’s fundraising record for his 2011 re-election bid.
February of 2016, it was reported that Sanders had “received 3.7 million contributions from some 1.3 million individual contributors whi9ch is quite incredible and never ever before done anywhere
Campaign trail
Sanders’s Michigan primary victory is considered to be one of the greatest upsets in modern political history. He won 50 to 48, despite the latest polls showing he was trailing Clinton at least 20 percentage points.
The only time such an egregious polling error was recorded was during the 1984 Democratic primary when polls showed Walter Mondale leading Gary Hart by 17 percentage points. Hart actually won Michigan by more than nine points.
Sanders also made more headlines news in March as the first presidential candidate — and the only Jewish one — in the 2016 race to abstain from attending the AIPAC conference, an annual pro-Israel lobbying event.
What Sanders has accomplished so far is a testament to his career-long political ambitions, from going door-to-door in , Vermont, as the city’s mayor to listening to residents complaints, to his passionate speeches on present-day, widespread income inequality.
Speeches
Now is the time for millions of working families to come together, to revitalize American democracy, to end the collapse of the American middle class and to make certain that our children and grandchildren are able to enjoy a quality of life that brings them health, prosperity, security and joy — and that once again makes the United States the leader in the world in the fight for economic and social justice, for environmental sanity and for a world of peace,” Sanders said in a recent speech to listeners in Burlington
So the future is bright and the future maybe Bernie
As CNN noted, Sanders’ rise can be partly attributed to Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton’s email scandal, which had left her with an unfavorable opinion among voters. The poll numbers have consistently demonstrated just that, and with no other primary competition in the Democratic race —— Clinton’s camp understands that the “Bern” is here to stay.
