By Ellie Pitkowsky ’18, Staff Writer

In the wake of yet another debate, one thing has become clear: Bernie Sanders, the once afterthought Vermont senator has demonstrated that he is not afraid to stand up to both debate hosts and opposing democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton. As the ever-important Iowa caucus fast approaches, new data suggests that Clinton holds a very slim lead over Sanders amongst Iowa caucus attendees- only 48% to Sanders’ 45%. Among the likely primary voters in New Hampshire, the senator leads Clinton 50% to 46%. Additionally, it has become evident that it is of upmost importance for candidates to win over millennials in order to have success in the upcoming primaries and eventually the Presidential election. New data on millennial voters alone (those born between 1985 and 1997) depicts that of the voters, 54% support Sanders while only 26% support Clinton. With primaries fast approaching, I felt it to be necessary to convey why I “feel the Bern” due to his stance on certain crucial issues- and how Hillary Clinton feels about the same issues.

1. Consistently Progressive– Senator Sanders has truly been a progressive since the very beginning of his political career. Having opposed important, contentious issues such as the Iraq War, the 2001 Patriot Act, the bombing campaign Syria, and the death penalty, Sanders is the epitome of a progressive in every one of his views. His stance on these issues depicts his eagerness to change the flaws in the American system. On all of these issues, Clinton has consistently flipped her views to sway with the general liberal consensus. She is a reactionary to Sanders’ revolutionary.

2. Minimum Wage- While Clinton wants to raise the minimum wage from the current $7.25/hour, Sanders is vying to bring this number to $15. Clinton’s plan would result in minimum wage workers making around $24,000+ while Sanders’ plan would have workers making 30,000+ per year. Having this minimum wage would please minimum wage workers, which would then result in a higher percentage of job retention, increasingly stable economically stable families and ultimately a better workforce as a whole.

3. Gay Rights- Though Clinton is now an outspoken supporter of gay rights, she opposed gay marriage until as late as 2013. Senator Sanders is a lifetime supporter of gay rights and gay marriage and has been outspoken about the importance of this to him since 1996. I fully understand that the candidate’s present beliefs are what remains important now. However,  Sander’s consistency on issues that are so crucial to America’s social well being such as the protection and rights of the LGBTQ+ community is depictive of the fact that he is the candidate of the people.

4. Climate Change- Bernie is very progressive when it comes to his effort to help our environment. He is passionate about efforts that could dramatically help the crumbling state of our environment including increasing renewable energy, opposing offshore drilling, arctic drilling, and  tax breaks for fossil fuels, to name a few. Hillary does not support all of these initiatives; in fact, she only supports one. Though it is important to note that Sanders may not ultimately include these in his final climate plan, Clinton’s lack of support on many of these issues is alarming.

5. MLK non-violence- As said by rapper/activist Killer Mike in an interview with Steven Colbert “Dr. King in his last two years of life talked about a poor people’s campaign, organizing unions on behalf of poor workers, organizing against the war machine that was perpetuating violence in Vietnam, Bernie Sanders is the only politician who has consistently for 50 years taken the social justice platform into politics, and right now we have an opportunity to elect someone who is directly out of the philosophy of Kingian non-violence. We can directly elect someone who cares about poor people, who cares about women, gay, black rights. Cares about lives that don’t look like his and this opportunity is not going to come in another 20 years.” I too believe that the opportunity to elect someone as caring and progressive as Senator Sanders is not something that the American people should take for granted.

A frequent complaint of Senator Sanders is his philosophical alignment with democratic socialism, characterized by many as anti-capitalism.  However, dismissing Senator Sanders for this is nonsensical, as modern America has many (positive) socialist aspects.  Free K-12 education is an example of socialism, as are fire and police departments, food stamps and,  in every other developed nation, healthcare benefits.  In closing, I feel that Senator Sanders truly is the candidate for everyone. No matter your race, socioeconomic background, or sexuality, it is possible to identify with Sanders’ philosophies and sentiments. Though his label as a socialist has the tendency to turn some away from him as a candidate, Sanders explains this as  “[creating] a government that works for all and not just the few,” further proving that he is a candidate not simply for the democrats or the socialists, but for Americans as a whole.