By Arden Nguyen
Bernie Sanders deserves to win the democratic party presidential nomination.
Out of all the democratic candidates, he’s one of the most politically experienced and therefore navigates politics better. He has been a politician since 1981, first serving as mayor of Burlington, Vermont, then as a Congressional representative and currently as a Vermont senator.
Sanders’ strength lies in a large, devoted base of supporters because he’s a true champion of the American people. He’s popular with minorities, young people and the working class due to his grassroots campaign. The number of donations that he’s amassed thus far, $121 million, and the fact that he has the most small donors of any candidate further attest to his success on the campaign trail.
One thing that is frequently under scrutiny, however, is Sanders’ identity as a democratic socialist, stemming from the negative connotation of the term without actual awareness of its definition.
In simple terms, democratic socialism favors a coexistence of capitalism with an active welfare state for the public good. Several countries such as Norway already function successfully with some form of socialism. The United States already employs several practices that are socialist in nature, such as a postal service and highways.
Let’s take a look at Sanders’ highly progressive policies. They include raising the minimum wage to $15, ending capital punishment, making public college tuition free, increasing teacher pay, regulating carbon emissions and establishing universal healthcare. These are all democratic socialist policies, but they’re undeniably beneficial to the United States and prove that not all socialism is bad.
If the results of the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary mean anything, Bernie Sanders is the nominee that the democratic party needs.
By Anonymous
Bernie Sanders has long served the people of his city, state and country. Sanders intends on continuing his service as the President of the United States through a democratic party presidential nomination, but here’s what’s wrong with a Bernie presidency.
The largest proponent of Sanders’ mission is controversial and far fetched: his policy on healthcare. He has placed the price for the potential healthcare system at 30 to 40 trillion dollars which is about two times the gross domestic product of our entire nation and two times the national debt. For a single bill that tackles only one category of American life, it is only logical that it should take up only enough funding to leave requisite capital for other supportive services let alone the national budget.
He hasn’t just proposed an impossible future, but his past also reflects undemocratic party ideals. For example, his vote against the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, a bill that would restrict the movement of handguns, pits him against gun control, which is the center of the democratic institution.
The fact that Sanders isn’t fully committed to any party, republican or democrat, makes him a dangerous pawn. The ideas that he stands for could change as they aren’t held to any partisan institution. In some ways this could allow him to affect change more efficiently but also limits him to no restrictions allowing him, like in 1993 with the Brady Bill, to vote against the party that he wishes to support him.
