Bernie Sanders: Presidential Candidates: Part 3 of 3 (The Throw Reddit A Bone Edition)

Bernie Sanders is, without a doubt, the most out-of-the-blue candidate in this race. His campaign's popularity caught fire in recent weeks, putting him ahead of Hillary Clinton in several states. Does this surge in the polls indicate a complete upset? It's hard to say, but his growth in popularity is interesting to say the least.

His populist wave has struck a young, angry demographic of people who are craving change but feel like they haven't been heard. The younger demographics typically lean liberal, but Sanders's grassroots method of gaining momentum and popularity has grabbed the attention of the nation.

So today in part 3 of my 3 part series, I'll cover the Democratic Socialist candidate, Bernie Sanders.

• Policies

Abortion

Abortion is a touchy issue, and it always will be no matter what happens. The debate of "Should we allow potential humans to die, or should we  However, at every turn Bernie Sanders has taken a very firm Pro-Choice stance, never once wavering. This attitude is consistent in all of Bernie's policy history, but we'll delve further into this particular section first.

In 1997, Sanders stated that women have the fundamental right to choose how they deal with their bodies, despite income. Starting in 2000, Bernie Sanders voted no on banning abortions, then again voted no on banning abortions except to save the mother's life in 2003. Later that same year, he was given a 100% rating by the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Law, indicating a complete Pro-Choice voting record.

Sanders voted yes for the usage of STEM cells in scientific research during May of 2005, and in 2007. He also voted no on restricting Dept. of Health and Human Services grants to centers with preformed abortions.

Sanders has stated that he believes we need to focus more on preventing pregnancy, and providing emergency contraceptive as necessary.

His track record in this field is extremely consistent, and there is no doubt Bernie Sanders is consistently Pro-Choice at every opportunity.

Economy

As a socialist, its presumable that economics is the general area where Sanders has sparked the most conversation.

First, Sanders believes that we should break up large banks into several smaller entities and introduce new fees on high-risk investment practices, including credit default swaps. Furthermore, he believes that the Federal Reserve is an organization which has become extremely opaque, and as a result he pushed for an audit on the Fed in 2011.

A lot of these policies are a little wordy in nature, however Sanders laid out his comprehensive economic plan for moving America forward in 12 steps:

1. Rebuilding Our Crumbling Infrastructure (Repair roads, highways, bridges, waterways, waste water plants, airports, railroads, and schools using a $1 trillion dollar investment.)
2. Reversing Climate Change (Transform energy system away from fossil fuels and into sustainable energies, which will create jobs.)
3. Creating Worker Co-ops (Develop new economic models, consisting of no longer giving large corporations who ship jobs to China massive tax breaks. Form more worker co-ops, as study after study shows when workers have a stake in the company they increase efficiency.)
4. Growing the Trade Union Movement (Union workers are able to collectively bargain for higher wages and more worker rights, however corporate opposition to unions makes creating and joining them more difficult.)
5. Raising the Minimum Wage (The current minimum wage of $7.25 is a starvation wage. No one working 40 hours a week should live in poverty.)
6. Pay Equity for Women Workers (Women only make 78% of what their male counterparts make for the same work - equal work means equal pay.)
7. Trade Policies that Benefit American Workers (We've lost more than 60,000 jobs since 2001 to policies which allow companies to ship jobs overseas. We must change these policies.)
8. Making College Affordable for All (Millions of Americans are unable to afford higher education. If America wishes to keep up in world economy, we must excel in education as well.)
9. Taking on Wall Street (The reckless behaviors of Wall Street firms plunged the country into the world financial crisis since the 1930's. These firms are too powerful to be reformed, they must be broken up.)
10. Health Care as a Right for All (America has 40,000,000 citizens have no health insurance and spend almost twice as much per capita on health than any other nation.)
11. Protecting the Most Vulnerable Americans (Millions of seniors live in poverty and we have the highest childhood poverty rate of any major country.)
12. Real Tax Reform (We need a system based on ability to pay - not income.)

Civil Rights

This area is yet another where Bernie Sanders's record is extremely consistent, spanning all the way back to the early 1960's

Bernie Sanders calls for the equal pay for women, and the end of any type of segregation in America. In 1997 he was quoted saying;

"It is vitally important to the future of this country and our state that we defeat the Republican agenda, and that we prevent the republicans from recapturing the Congress and taking the White House. That is enormously important. But it is even more important that we as progressives and as Vermonters hold on to that special vision that has propelled us forward for so many years. A vision which says that we judge people not by their color, their gender, their sexual orientation, their nation of birth-- but by the quality of their character, and that we will never accept sexism, racism, or homophobia."

 He voted yes to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, voted no on constitutionally redefining marriage as one man and one woman, and voted no on making the PATRIOT Act permanent. He also came out and said that Bush's tracking phone data was illegal.

This ideology of his spans all the way back to the Civil Rights Movement, in fact.

This photo was taken in 1963 at a college sit in against segregation.

General Social Issues

I've decided to again move the more general categories of policy here, including Bernie's record on drugs and education.

Firstly, Sanders has voted no to military border patrols for drugs and terrorism, and again voted no for random federal employee drug tests. He called for the full exclusion of industrial hemp from the legal definition of marijuana, and later called for the full legalization of medicinal marijuana.

In the way of education, many of his policies focus on broadening accessibility of higher education. He pushed for $18 billion to be used to make two years of higher education free and then have state colleges cut tuition further by 55%. He also said that college loan payment has become regressive, and we should adopt a policy of refinancing and forgiveness.  Furthermore, he wants to make higher education more accessible, going as far as calling for it to be free. As for lower education, he called for reducing grades 1 to 3 class size to 18 kids per class, and voted no on allowing class prayer during the War on Terror.

In 2003, Sanders was given a 7% rating by the Christian Coalition, stating that he had an anti-Family-value voting record. He stated that war is a local issues because it is local children who fight and die for the cause. He has also pushed for focusing on domestic needs over international violence, but also scorned China for the violence in Tibet and scorned Bush for his poor diplomacy in the War on Terror.

• Summary

The appeal toward Bernie Sanders was not expected at the beginning of the election, but sense then he has pulled ahead of Hillary, set fire to the young demographic, and ended up on the cover of TIME magazine.

Bernie Sanders has grabbed the attention of these young, angry voters due to a few key qualities that they champion so highly. One of these qualities is his brute honesty and steady line of policy. Since the beginning of his career, Bernie has called for equality among people in a social realm and scorned manipulative government practices. Now, over 50 years later, Sanders is still calling for that same message. The other quality he holds which has brought him so far is his legitimate progressive attitude. Throughout their childhood, many young voters have been told there would be change with this and that president, but never see the change they're promised.

While Sanders sparks controversy and suspicion with the title "Socialist" to those who have not experienced Socialism gone wrong, the word carries no true weight in the way of fear mongering.

So, we have a candidate with a continual record of progressive voting, and no outside influence has ever been able to sway that, including campaign money. Sanders refuses any donation by a large  corporation, only raising money through grassroots fundraising.

Will Sanders win the Democratic nomination, or the presidency for that matter? It's a long shot, but it was also said that Sanders would never make it into the Senate as a Socialist. However, if he can represent that thirsty-for-change, college-age group in his campaign, I believe he will find his way relatively easily through the race.

Up next: Ben Carson

Also, before I sign off, many people are aware of the horrific refugee crisis occurring in Europe. Google has started a campaign to raise money for this crisis, and is matching every donation. If you're able I would definitely recommend donating to this great and heartbreaking campaign.

https://onetoday.google.com/page/refugeerelief/

"There is no distinctly American criminal class - except for Congress." -Mark Twain