Bernie Sanders’ Campaign Runs On People Power

When people endorse Bernie Sanders, it isn’t for the standard reasons. They don’t endorse him simply because he’s running on the Democratic ticket. They don’t endorse him because they think he can beat Republicans. They don’t endorse him because he could be the nation’s first Jewish president.

People endorse Bernie Sanders because they believe he can have a positive effect on the country, to change course from a path of oligarchy back to a true representative democracy. Sanders has been getting a lot of heat lately from critics, mostly those who spew about the horrors of communism. But Bernie is no communist, and democratic socialism is far and away a completely different animal from the type of communism the Hillary camp is trying to claim he supports.

The political revolution Bernie Sanders has espoused from day one has made establishment politicians and big business nervous. Corporations paying their fair share of taxes? Perish the thought! Expanding Social Security and making Medicare accessible to everyone? Critics call those moves another step closer to fascism or communism.

What those critics are ignoring, or even grossly misrepresenting, is how normal such programs are throughout the civilized world. Canada has socialized medical care. Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and even Australia have socialized health care. Those countries are far from being communist dictatorships. In fact, many of those countries have high levels of personal freedom and are among the happiest countries in the modern world.

So, what’s the deal with Hillary and co. trying to paint Bernie Sanders into that Soviet Communist corner?

Fear. Plain and simple.

They fear him. They fear Bernie Sanders more than they fear Donald Trump, or even Ted Cruz, because Bernie is motivating Americans for all the right reasons.

Sanders on a Bloomberg run: "You're gonna have two multi-billionaires running for president against me…I think I will win." #MTP

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) January 24, 2016

Evidence of how successful Sanders’ grassroots movement is can be found in the multitude of Facebook pages devoted to him. It’s evidenced in the people pounding the pavement and making phone calls for him. It’s evidenced in the thousands of people hitting the streets to #MarchForBernie on Saturday.

Bernie Sanders rally in Portland draws big crowd, no Bernie @BernieSanders #MarchForBernie https://t.co/INgOLF8m7T pic.twitter.com/nNlRAP39j3

— Andrew Theen (@andrewtheen) January 23, 2016

Interestingly enough, corporate media ignored the various marches throughout the country despite the large turnouts. Photos of the marches show hundreds of people turning out to march in the streets to bring Bernie’s message to people not familiar with him.

Bernie Sanders has been criticized for not reaching minority voters or voters of color, but Chicago’s “March For Bernie” on Saturday proved that Chicagoans of all colors are feeling the Bern. Debby Spatafora, who participated in the Chicago march, told Inquisitr that local news outlets devoted at most, 20 seconds to the event, which drew thousands of people outside to brave the cold weather.

Spatafora said that the Facebook event, Chicago #MarchForBernie, had at least 2,300 people sign up for the march, with an estimated 3,000 who ultimately attended.

JAN 23, 2016: Chicago’s #MarchForBernie drew hundreds of people to brave the cold weather in support of Bernie Sanders. [Image used with permission of Debby Spatafora/Facebook]Unlike mainstream media, Bernie Sanders didn’t ignore the marches, and in a live-streamed address on late Saturday afternoon, Sanders thanked his supporters for mobilizing to get the word out about his candidacy. More than 2,000 homes hosted Bernie watch parties across the country. He urged supporters to appreciate how far they had taken his campaign.

“We started this campaign with something like three percent in the national polls. We started this campaign with no money, no political organization, and nobody…none of the experts thought we were anything more than a fringe candidacy. Well, nine months have come and gone, and now we have hundreds of thousands of volunteers in every state in this country…We don’t represent the billionaire class.”

He then told supporters that the hundreds of thousands of people who have donated money, marched, made phone calls on his behalf are the reason why the Democratic primaries are seeing a “Bernie surge.”

As he said in his address, the American people want to see a transformation of society.

“At the end of nine months, we have received over two and a half million individual contributions. More contributions than any candidate in the history of the United States of America up until this point. And on top of that our outreach contribution…is $27. So what we are showing uniquely in modern American history is that you can run a campaign without begging billionaires and Wall Street for money for your Super PAC.

“We can do it through a campaign of the people by the people and for the people. And the reason that our campaign is gaining so much momentum….and doing well all over this country is that our message is resonating with the American people.”

Politicians who have recently endorsed Bernie Sanders include former Nevada Assemblywoman Lucy Flores, who is currently running for the state’s District 4 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. On January 19, Flores wrote about why she had decided to endorse Sanders.

Her personal story of poverty included an anecdote about working with a little boy who lived in filth and literally had nothing. No toys, no books, no crayons. Just a one-bedroom apartment filled with clutter and garbage. When she listened to Bernie Sanders speak, she remembered that little boy and how, despite his extreme circumstances, he still showed potential and excitement for learning.

“I believe that Bernie Sanders wakes up every day with these things on his mind. That the unfairness of it all weighs on his heart, just like it doe3s mine, and that when he is elected, he will do whatever it takes to make American the land of opportunity again. I believe that Bernie Sanders will lead the charge, with many millions of Americans behind him, against the unfettered Wall Street greed that has threatened the very existence of the middle class and shackled so many more to permanent poverty. I believe that now, more than every, American needs a political revolution.”

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Flores, 35, was one of the first Latinas to be elected to the Nevada Assembly in 2010. District 4, where she is running, has a large minority population with mostly Hispanics and blacks populating the area.

Flores is just one example of the growing number of political leaders, activists, and everyday Americans who have heard Bernie Sanders’ message and realized that he is the only one who truly represents the people, and this is why the establishment is running scared.

Watch Darletta Scruggs give an impassioned speech for Bernie Sanders prior to the march on Saturday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abfeqbCgttA

[Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images]