Rich and I have been following politics our entire 30 years together. We've watched nearly all the debates, primaries, and conventions of both political parties since 1988. We were strict Republicans up until 2008. So we have a pretty good understanding of the agendas on both sides.
This presidential election has been of particular interest because in all of our years of analyzing candidates, there has never been anyone quite like Bernie Sanders.
When Bernie first announced his candidacy, and we heard about his platform, we loved what he stood for but didn't think he had any realistic chance of winning. However, we hoped at least he'd create a conversation about issues that nobody else was addressing-issues that we too had concern and passion around.
One of the major concerns was the fact that the average salary for the working class has stayed the same since 1978. Meanwhile the average salary of CEO's went from 15x higher than the average worker, to 350x higher. So basically, our economy has been growing over the last 40 years, but the only people to benefit from it have been the wealthy. The unmitigated greed of the upper class was most dramatically seen in the total collapse of our economy in 2008 when corporate avarice nearly drove this country to bankruptcy. To make matters worse, it was the middle class who had to bail out Wall Street. The reason for this terrible inequity over the last 40 years is because of tax breaks, deregulation, and other legislation favoring corporate America and the wealthy since Reagan. Consequently the rich now (through campaign funding, Super Pacs, and lobbyists) control elections and legislation. And every presidential candidate in recent history has been apart of this marriage between money and government-both Democrats and Republicans. That's why the phenomenon of Bernie Sanders is so amazing, because he is the one exception. Not only does he refuse to take money from corporations or SuperPacs, but he is aggressively attacking this injustice and calling it what it is-an oligarchy.
(PAID FOR BY BERNIE 2016 -NOT THE BILLIONAIRES)
Many of our other political concerns ( health care for all Americans, protecting Social Security Benefits, reducing college debt, raising the minimum wage, addressing climate change, regulating the food industry, providing immigration reform) will only be fixed if someone is bold enough to try and stop wealthy corporations from controlling every decision in Congress. Otherwise, it's more of the same!
Much to our surprise millions of other Americans feel the way we do (especially younger voters). For not only were our initial hopes of Bernie changing the conversation realized, but now he unexpectedly is an extremely viable contender for the Democratic nomination. And all the polls show him beating Republican candidates in November by an even bigger margin than Hillary Clinton.
Our passion has been stirred up to such a degree that for the first time ever we made telephone calls for a presidential candidate, we have donated money, and we attended a huge rally of 9,000 people in Tampa FL where we got to see Bernie in person.
I know many people are afraid that his ideas are unrealistic or unaffordable. The truth is, he only wants to correct the unfairness that has developed in the last 40 years by making the wealthy pay their fair share, ending corporate subsidies and tax breaks for millionaires, and taxing Wall Street speculation. This alone will increase government revenues by a few trillion dollars. Taxes on the middle class will go up slightly (a few percentage points), but they will actually end up with more money in their pockets because they will no longer need to pay for health insurance under a public healthcare system.
The other concern non-Bernie supporters have is that he is a socialist--which for many Americans is a dirty word. It doesn't mean he is a communist, nor does it mean he opposes capitalism. He simply believes that the government should guarantee certain rights to its citizens. So in that sense, America has been socialist for a long time. Social security, medicare, unemployment benefits & a federal minimum wage are all forms of socialism. So are public services like parks, sanitation & the fire department (even tax many write offs, grants, or loans we get for buying a house or collage loans). And every tax break for corporations is also a form of socialism. All that is different about Bernie is that he wants the government to help the working class, and the poor, instead of the wealthy. He wants to call out a corrupted system that has no accountability.
Because of our Christian faith, we feel that helping the underprivileged is the priority, and are appalled at the rise of poverty in this country because a full-time worker is expected to live on less than $8 per hour. That is absurd, greedy, and immoral! I also love how Bernie is willing to shine a light on the insurance and pharmaceutical industry that's crippling families financially with debt and high deductibles. We don't care if others do not feel the same way about these policy issues. However, we do feel an obligation to speak up for Bernie Sanders and what he stands for.
Lastly, yes, there is something idealistic about Bernie Sanders. His message is resonating with millions of people (of all ages, races, and religions). Millions of people are not looking to give or receive handouts (sorry, Republicans, you have it ALL wrong if you think that about us). We are looking for RADICAL reform of outdated system. Bernie's sincere and has a vision for a country that is no longer in bed with Wall Street, and run by mere Washington puppets. Part of his efforts include overturning Citizens United that buy elections through SuperPacs. Don't we all agree that the Koch brothers giving $900 million to their favored candidate contradicts the whole idea of democracy, where every one should have an equal say. Bernie is he only candidate without a SuperPac.
I'm both an idealist and an optimist. If Bernie wins there is no way Congress will work with him. Perfect! Bernie wants to give the power back to the people. We The People will make phone calls to our congressmen and senators and demand change. We'll rise up and march on Washington and take back our country (without guns). It happened with woman's suffrage in the 20's, it happened with civil rights in the 60's, now it is our turn to insure this country's policies are fair for all of us, not just some of us.
