Senator Bernie Sanders as he delivers his campaign speech in Mason City, IA to an enthused democratic audience. Photo courtesy of Bethany Carson (the author's sister!)
On September 27th we went to meet our first democrat on the list of candidates--Bernie Sanders! I made my way into the crowded college auditorium, and found a seat in the bleachers. At the appointed time the 74 year old Vermont Senator came up to the stage and was greeted by all of his fellow socialists, with a thunderous roar of applause. Bernie Sanders must have had hundreds of fans there; it was almost shocking that so many people could support his positions. Most of them, not surprisingly, were young.
Sanders addressed the problems we have with the evil rich, and how we need to steal from them to give to the poor. He told about how in Germany they have free education, and we need to have that here in our country too. He said it was simply disgraceful that all of the other civilized lands have a long paid maternity leave, while our country doesn't require it. Afterward he gave the opportunity for a few of the incredibly strange people (for lack of a better description) in his audience to raise questions. And then Bernie hurried out without giving us a chance to meet him, shake his hand, or even have the opportunity to have our pictures taken with him. Sanders has real socialistic ideas and he doesn't hide them. On abortion he is pro-choice, he's for decriminalizing marijuana, he has received an F rating from the NRA, and he's for raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
Now I will close with one last quote from Mr. Sanders: “I do believe that in a democratic, civilized society, all people are entitled to health care as a right, all people are entitled to quality education as a right, all people are entitled to decent jobs and a decent income, and we need a government which represents ordinary Americans and not just the wealthy and the powerful. Very sadly, the corporate media ignores some of the huge accomplishments that have taken place in Scandinavia, with a long history of democratic socialism.” After Sanders said this, the news reporter interviewing him replied, “I can hear the Republican attack ad right now: "He wants America to look more like Scandinavia." Sanders gave his honest answer, “That's right...”
So we found out what it is like to attend our first democrat's campaign speech!
On September 27th we went to meet our first democrat on the list of candidates--Bernie Sanders! I made my way into the crowded college auditorium, and found a seat in the bleachers. At the appointed time the 74 year old Vermont Senator came up to the stage and was greeted by all of his fellow socialists, with a thunderous roar of applause. Bernie Sanders must have had hundreds of fans there; it was almost shocking that so many people could support his positions. Most of them, not surprisingly, were young.
Sanders addressed the problems we have with the evil rich, and how we need to steal from them to give to the poor. He told about how in Germany they have free education, and we need to have that here in our country too. He said it was simply disgraceful that all of the other civilized lands have a long paid maternity leave, while our country doesn't require it. Afterward he gave the opportunity for a few of the incredibly strange people (for lack of a better description) in his audience to raise questions. And then Bernie hurried out without giving us a chance to meet him, shake his hand, or even have the opportunity to have our pictures taken with him. Sanders has real socialistic ideas and he doesn't hide them. On abortion he is pro-choice, he's for decriminalizing marijuana, he has received an F rating from the NRA, and he's for raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
Now I will close with one last quote from Mr. Sanders: “I do believe that in a democratic, civilized society, all people are entitled to health care as a right, all people are entitled to quality education as a right, all people are entitled to decent jobs and a decent income, and we need a government which represents ordinary Americans and not just the wealthy and the powerful. Very sadly, the corporate media ignores some of the huge accomplishments that have taken place in Scandinavia, with a long history of democratic socialism.” After Sanders said this, the news reporter interviewing him replied, “I can hear the Republican attack ad right now: "He wants America to look more like Scandinavia." Sanders gave his honest answer, “That's right...”
So we found out what it is like to attend our first democrat's campaign speech!