His ideas are self explanatory and his message is simple, time tested and consistent since he first appeared on the political scene decades ago. He summarizes his political action by referring to the work by Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. “Let me tell you what kind of blew me away when you think about Dr. King’s life. Obviously it took an enormous amount of courage to stand up to the segregationists, racists — they got jailed, they got beaten up — an incredible amount of courage. But what impressed me even more … he could’ve rested on his laurels. The establishment would’ve said, ‘You are a great black leader. Look what you did: You got the Voting Rights Act. Wow! You broke down segregation in the South. Incredible! But you know what? This is what courage is about. He said, ‘Enough.’ If he was going to be consistent with his own inner soul, he had to ask other questions, ” Bernie Sanders, because it is him, said during a discussion about Dr Martin Luther King Jr.' Day, which was live-streamed on his campaign’s website. He was discussing with three Black Leaders: Ohio Senator
Nina Turner, Professor Cornell West, and Rapper Killer Mike.
When he started running for the US Presidency, few believed he will be by now a serious contender. Only scoring in the lowest digits and being led by Hillary Clinton by 59% in national polls, he had no presence in major media networks and few journalist talked about him. Even those talking about him dwelled on his "socialist democrat" label. Today, Bernie Sanders has entered the mass media, and all the TV networks are competing to broadcast his interventions. He is considered a contender, running neck and neck against Senator Hillary Clinton in the key battlegrounds of Iowa and New Hampshire and leading the top Republican candidate Donald Trump in national match-up polls.
Bernie Sanders platform may be summarized into the following points that form what he calls " political revolution" agenda:
- government insurance as a right for all men,women and children,
- free tuition at public colleges,
- breaking up too big to fail banks,
- taxes on the rich and corporations to create new jobs and build infrastructures,
- a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, extended guaranteed parental leave,
- and a carbon tax to combat climate change.
He is specific about the political revolution: “For me to win, it would require a grassroots effort on the part of literally millions of people. Unprecedented. What we need now is a political revolution.” A theme he has been advocating since he first appeared on the political scene decades ago.
When challenged by Hillary Clinton during the Democratic Debate of Jan 17, 2016 regarding how he would get his agenda implemented, when even less radical changes were rejected in previous administrations, Sanders went back to the political revolution aimed at transforming the country by a complete overhaul of the campaign finance system that, according to him, has undermined American democracy.
Yes, Bernie Sanders has been building momentum and becoming a candidate to be reckoned with. The youth is overwhelmingly supporting him. The young people, through social media and elsewhere, claim to find his message genuine and to the point with the urgent issues America, and the young generations in general, face.
As he builds on his momentum and starts pushing a strong penetration among the minorities, especially African Americans and Hispanics, who until recently did not know him well, Bernie Sanders may perhaps leverage his political revolution to beat Hillary Clinton, then Donald Trump and reach the Whitehouse.
