Bernie Sanders
| Bernie Sanders | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| U.S. Senator from Vermont From: January 3, 2007 – Present | |||
| Predecessor | Jim Jeffords | ||
| Successor | Incumbent (no successor) | ||
| U.S. Representative from Vermont's at-large Congressional District From: January 3, 1991 – January 3, 2007 | |||
| Predecessor | Peter Smith | ||
| Successor | Peter Welch | ||
| Information | |||
| Party | Democrat | ||
| Spouse(s) | Jane O'Meara | ||
| Religion | Jewish | ||
Bernard "Bernie" Sanders, born September 8, 1941 (age 85), is a United States Senator, representing Vermont. Sanders identifies as a democratic socialist. He calls himself an Independent but generally caucuses with Democrats. Previously, he served in the House of Representatives for eight terms from 1990 to 2007, after serving four terms as mayor of Burlington from 1981 to 1989. Sanders is also a film-maker, having made a documentary about Eugene V. Debs in 1979, and a musician, releasing a folk album in 1987.
At a press conference on April 30, 2015, Sanders announced that he is running for the Democrat nomination in the 2016 presidential election. He formally announced his candidacy on May 26.[1]
Sanders has a devout following, made up of many of the same people (mostly millenials) that voted for Barack Hussein Obama. He brings in the voters with democratic socialist ideas while consistently speaking on the issues such as; the corrupt campaign finance, the corruption of big banks, equality on all people, the middle class, a living wage, free healthcare, tuition-free college, and a government that serves its people rather than the richest 1%.
2016 Campaign
Sanders calls himself an outsider and anti-establishment. He has spent the last 40 years in politics, with the past 25 years in Congress. He has faced criticism for being a "fringe" candidate and his progressive ideology. As of December 2015, Bernie Sanders is in second place behind the Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton.
Sanders has stated his opinions on the GOP's policies and its candidates. Specifically, the GOP war on women. Calls to defund Planned Parenthood has angered the majority of Americans, including Sanders, as it is a facility for women and men who are in need of help. He would support abortion for women of rape, incest and mutation, which the GOP wants to outright ban. Sanders will say the GOP wants to deny women's health services, as it already has by wanting to defund Planned Parenthood. The facts are that 13,000 women's health centers are available that are not owned by Planned Parenthood, with the majority of PP clinics being bombarded with threats and attacks. He supports not just abortion and women's healthcare, but also the the fair distribution of wealth, a tax inspection on Wall Street, higher taxes for the rich who have robbed us in the 2008 Recession, a two-state policy on Israel, and among many others. [2]
The disappearance of the middle class has been a strong base of Sanders's campaign. One of his policies which he has backed since 1998 is the argument that the banks are too big. He also claims that billionaires are not paying their taxes and are hurting the middle and working classes, citing the Koch Brothers and their funding of the 2016 presidential election. Claims have been made by Wall Street Journal that claims Sanders would spend the amount of the national debt, $18 trillion, on his policies despite being debunked but rather save so much money that the debt would go down. He has also made claims supporting single-payer healthcare, free college tuition, etc.
He has said that America is in crisis, and criticizes the GOP's policies on women's rights, the LGBT, and immigrants.
Sanders is the author of "Rape Essays," a 1972 satirical text on sexual behavior filled with lurid sexual language. Sanders has explained that the text reflects on the unfair sexual objectification of women.
Sanders runs on the issues facing the American people to further his campaign. Claims have been made that Sanders is a Zionist despite being non-religious. He has also used quotes from major political and religious figures of the world, such as Martin Luther King Jr., Pope Francis and allegedly Jesus Christ.
He openly wants to tax the top 1% fairly as they have avoided taxing because of the Bush era tax cuts for the rich.
Controversial votes
In all of his years in politics, Sanders has only been able to authorize 3 bills into law, and he has sponsored 356 bills since 1990. Conservative Review has compiled a Liberty Score on Sanders. He gets a F at just 16%.
Sanders headed the Veterans Affairs Committee. Under his purview; waiting list deaths, destruction and manipulation of medical records, opiate abuse, fraud unpunished, mismanagement rewarded with pay raises, wait times to see a doctor has never been longer, despite Sanders and Senator John McCain fighting against these issues. Sanders has extensively written bills to support veterans. Even today while he campaigns, he is still a member of the committee and continues to work with the VAC despite his busy schedule with rallies and senate votes.
During Bernie Sanders 2006 Senatorial campaign, it back. Republican opponent Rich Tarrant made an issue over Sanders 2003 vote against the Amber Alert. Which is a notification to the general public, by various media outlets in Canada and in the United States, when police confirmed that a child has been abducted. The bill passed in the House of Representatives 410-14. Every United States Senator voted for it, including Vermont Senators Patrick Leahy and Jim Jeffords. He was also one of only nineteen Congressman to vote against the Women's Rights HIV Testing –Passage. Which would allow sexual assault victims to find out the HIV status of their suspected assailant. Sanders has passed bills in the past, such as funding to put predators and pedophiles into prison, better funding on women's healthcare to improve breast cancer screening, and more.
After countless stories of election fraud by the group ACORN, Bernie Sanders was one of seven Democrats that voted to continue funding ACORN. The vote failed and ACORN was stripped of funding in the Senate [3] Bill Wilson of Americans for Limited Government said, "The ACORN Housing Corporation has long been pushing the very loose-lending policies that helped destroy the housing industry. And now it has been exposed for working with prostitutes, as well. Yet, these seven Senators [Sanders] have knowingly voted to keep sending taxpayer money to a highly corrupt organization of pushers and pimps," [4]
Eugene Debs Documentary
In 1979, Sanders wrote, directed, and lent his voice for Debs' dialogue[5] in a documentary which shows a long-standing respect on part of Sanders for what Debs stood for.[6]
References
- ↑ http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/04/29/vermont-sen-bernie-sanders-am-running-for-president/
- ↑ https://berniesanders.com/issues/
- ↑ Senate denies ACORN funding, Politico, September 14, 2009
- ↑ ALG Condemns 7 Senators,Politico Mafioso, September 16, 2009
- ↑ A documentary that Bernie Sanders made about a socialist politician 36 years ago says a lot about his politics today, Business Insider
- ↑ Bernie Sanders’s Documentary on Eugene Debs, National Review