Bernie Sanders: Difference between revisions

Bernie Sanders
Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee
In office January 3, 2013 – January 3, 2015
Preceded by	Patty Murray
Succeeded by	Johnny Isakson
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Vermont's at-large district
In office January 3, 1991 – January 3, 2007
Preceded by	Peter Plympton Smith
Succeeded by	Peter Welch
37th Mayor of Burlington
In office April 6, 1981 – April 4, 1989
Preceded by	Gordon Paquette
Succeeded by	Peter Clavelle
Personal details
Born	Bernard Sanders (1941-09-08) September 8, 1941 (age 82) Liberty Union (before 1979) Democratic (2015–2016)[1]†
Spouse(s)	Deborah Shiling Messing ​ ​ (m. 1964; div. 1966)​ [2] Jane O'Meara ​ (m. 1988)​
Children	1 son
Relatives	Larry Sanders (brother)
Education	Brooklyn College University of Chicago (BA)
Signature
Website	Senate website

This article is part of a series about Bernie Sanders
Political positions Electoral history Early life Early career University of Chicago sit-ins Mayor of Burlington Mayoral career U.S. Representative from Vermont's at-large district Representative career CPC Elections 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 U.S. Senator from Vermont Senate career Elections 2006 2012 2018 Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act 2010 Tax Relief Act filibuster Veterans Choice Act Stop BEZOS Act Yemen War Powers Resolution Workplace Democracy Act Presidential campaigns 2016 endorsements "America" primaries convention 2020 endorsements primaries Published works We Shall Overcome Outsider in the White House The Speech Our Revolution Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution Where We Go from Here It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism
v t e

Bernard Sanders (born September 8, 1941) is an American politician who has been the

Since January 2017, he has been Chair of the

Sanders was born on September 8, 1941, in

Sanders became interested in politics at an early age: "A guy named Adolf Hitler won an election in 1932. He won an election, and 50 million people died as a result of that election in World War II, including 6 million Jews. So what I learned as a little kid is that politics is, in fact, very important."[25]^{[26][27][nb 1]}

Sanders lived on East 26th Street in

Sanders attended James Madison High School, also in Brooklyn, where he was captain of the track team and took third place in the New York City indoor one-mile race.^[31] In high school, Sanders lost his first election, finishing last out of three candidates for the student body presidency. Not long after his high school graduation, his mother died at the age of 46;^[19][23] his father died a few years later on August 4, 1962, at the age of 57.^[15]

Sanders studied at Brooklyn College for a year in 1959–60^[35] before transferring to the University of Chicago and graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in political science in 1964.^[35] He has described himself as a mediocre college student because the classroom was "boring and irrelevant," while the community provided his most significant learning.^[36]

Early career

Political activism

While at the University of Chicago, Sanders joined the

In addition to his civil rights activism during the 1960s and 1970s,[48] Sanders was active in several peace and antiwar movements. He was a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Student Peace Union while attending the University of Chicago. Sanders applied for conscientious objector status during the Vietnam War; his application was eventually turned down, by which point he was too old to be drafted. Although he opposed the war, Sanders never criticized those who fought and has been a strong supporter of veterans' benefits.^[49][50] Sanders also worked on the reelection campaign of Leon Despres, a prominent Chicago alderman who was opposed to mayor Richard J. Daley's Democratic Party machine. During his student years he also read a variety of American and European political authors, from Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and John Dewey to Karl Marx and Erich Fromm.^[51]

Professional history

After graduating from college, Sanders returned to New York City, where he initially worked at a variety of jobs, including Head Start teacher, psychiatric aide, and carpenter.^[36] In 1968, Sanders moved to Vermont because he had been "captivated by rural life." After his arrival there he worked as a carpenter,^[37] filmmaker, and writer^[52] who created and sold "radical film strips" and other educational materials to schools.^[53] He also wrote several articles for the alternative publication The Vermont Freeman.^[54]

Liberty Union campaigns

Sanders began his electoral political career in 1971 as a member of the

The 1976 campaign proved to be the zenith of Liberty Union's influence, with Sanders collecting 11,000 votes for governor and the party. This forced the races for lieutenant governor and secretary of state to be decided by the state legislature when its vote total prevented either the Republican or Democratic candidates for those offices from garnering a majority of votes.^[58] The campaign drained the finances and energy of the Liberty Union, however, and in October 1977, less than a year after the conclusion of the 1976 campaign, Sanders and the Liberty Union candidate for attorney general, Nancy Kaufman, announced their retirement from the party.^[58]

Following his resignation from Liberty Union, Sanders worked as a writer and the director of the nonprofit American People's Historical Society (APHS).^[59] While with the APHS, he made a 30-minute documentary about American Socialist leader and presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs.^[37][60]

Mayor of Burlington

In 1980, Sanders ran for mayor of Burlington, Vermont (pop. 38,000), at the suggestion of his close friend and political confidante Richard Sugarman, a professor of religion at the University of Vermont. He was mayor for eight years, from April 6, 1981 to April 4, 1989.

Campaigns

The 39-year-old Sanders ran against incumbent Democratic mayor Gordon "Gordie" Paquette, a five-term mayor who had served as a member of the Burlington City Council for 13 years before that, building extensive community ties and a willingness to cooperate with Republican leaders in controlling appointments to various commissions. Republicans had found Paquette so unobjectionable that they failed to field a candidate in the March 1981 race against him, leaving Sanders as his principal opponent. Sanders's effort was further aided by the decision of the candidate of the Citizens Party, Greg Guma, to exit the race so as not to split the progressive vote. Two other candidates in the race, independents Richard Bove and Joe McGrath, proved to be essentially non-factors in the campaign, with the battle coming down to Paquette and Sanders.^[58]

Sanders castigated the pro-development incumbent as an ally of prominent shopping center developer Antonio Pomerleau, while Paquette warned of ruin for Burlington if Sanders was elected. The Sanders campaign was bolstered by a wave of optimistic volunteers as well as by a series of endorsements from university professors, social welfare agencies, and the police union. The final result came as a shock to the local political establishment, with the maverick Sanders winning by just 10 votes.^[58]

Sanders was reelected three times, defeating both Democratic and Republican candidates. He received 53% of the vote in 1983 and 55% in 1985.

After serving four two-year terms, Sanders chose not to seek reelection in 1989. He lectured in political science at

During the 1980s, Sanders was a staunch critic of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America.^[68] In 1985, Burlington City Hall hosted a foreign policy speech by Noam Chomsky. In his introduction, Sanders praised Chomsky as "a very vocal and important voice in the wilderness of intellectual life in America" and said he was "delighted to welcome a person who I think we're all very proud of."^[69][70]

Sanders's administration balanced the city budget and drew a

Sanders hosted and produced a public-access television program, Bernie Speaks with the Community, from 1986 to 1988.^[73][74] He collaborated with 30 Vermont musicians to record a folk album, We Shall Overcome, in 1987.^[75][76]

In 1987, U.S. News & World Report ranked Sanders as one of America's best mayors.^[77] As of 2013^[update], Burlington was regarded as one of the most livable cities in the nation.^[78][79]

U.S. House of Representatives

Sanders's 1990 victory made him the first independent candidate to be elected to Congress since Frazier Reams in 1950. It was noted by The Washington Post and others as the first election of a socialist to the United States House of Representatives in decades.^[80][81] Sanders served in the House from 1991 until he became a senator in 2007.

Elections

In 1988, incumbent Republican Congressman

During his first year in the House, Sanders often alienated allies and colleagues with his criticism of both political parties as working primarily on behalf of the wealthy. In 1991, Sanders co-founded the Congressional Progressive Caucus, a group of mostly liberal Democrats that Sanders chaired for its first eight years,^[19] while still refusing to join the Democratic Party or caucus.^[85]

Votes

In 1993, Sanders voted against the

In 1994, Sanders voted in favor of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. Sanders said he voted for the bill "because it included the Violence Against Women Act and the ban on certain assault weapons". He was nevertheless extremely critical of the other parts of the bill.^[88][89] Though he acknowledged that "clearly, there are some people in our society who are horribly violent, who are deeply sick and sociopathic, and clearly these people must be put behind bars in order to protect society from them", he maintained in his intervention before the House that the government's ill-thought policies played a large part in "dooming tens of millions of young people to a future of bitterness, misery, hopelessness, drugs, crime, and violence". In this same intervention, he argued that the repressive policies introduced by the bill were not addressing the causes of violence, stating that "we can create meaningful jobs, rebuilding our society, or we can build more jails".^[90]

In 2005, he voted for the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.^[91] The act's purpose was to prevent firearms manufacturers and dealers from being held liable for negligence when crimes have been committed with their products. In 2015, Sanders defended his vote, saying: "If somebody has a gun and it falls into the hands of a murderer and the murderer kills somebody with a gun, do you hold the gun manufacturer responsible? Not any more than you would hold a hammer company responsible if somebody beats somebody over the head with a hammer."^[92]

Sanders voted against the

On November 2, 2005, Sanders voted against the Online Freedom of Speech Act, which would have exempted the Internet from the campaign finance restrictions of the McCain–Feingold Bill.^[96]

Positions on legislation

Sanders was a consistent critic of the Patriot Act.^[97] As a member of Congress, he voted against the original Patriot Act legislation.^[98] After its 357-to-66 passage in the House, Sanders sponsored and voted for several subsequent amendments and acts attempting to curtail its effects,^[99] and voted against each re-authorization.^[100] In June 2005, Sanders proposed an amendment to limit Patriot Act provisions that allow the government to obtain individuals' library and book-buying records. The amendment passed the House by a bipartisan majority, but was removed on November 4 of that year in House–Senate negotiations and never became law.^[101]

In March 2006, after a series of resolutions passed in various Vermont towns calling for him to bring

Sanders entered the race for the U.S. Senate on April 21, 2005, after Senator Jim Jeffords announced that he would not seek a fourth term. Chuck Schumer, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, endorsed Sanders, a critical move as it meant that no Democrat running against Sanders could expect to receive financial help from the party. Sanders was also endorsed by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Democratic National Committee chairman and former Vermont governor Howard Dean. Dean said in May 2005 that he considered Sanders an ally who "votes with the Democrats 98% of the time".^[111] Then-Senator Barack Obama also campaigned for Sanders in Vermont in March 2006.^[112] Sanders entered into an agreement with the Democratic Party, much as he had as a congressman, to be listed in their primary but to decline the nomination should he win, which he did.^[113][114]

In the most expensive political campaign in Vermont's history,

Polling conducted in August 2011 by Public Policy Polling found that Sanders's approval rating was 67% and his disapproval rating 28%, making him then the third-most popular senator in the country.^[8] Both the NAACP and the NHLA have given Sanders 100% voting scores during his tenure in the Senate.^[118] In 2015 Sanders was named one of the Top 5 of The Forward 50.^[119] In a November 2015 Morning Consult poll, Sanders had an approval rating of 83% among his constituents, making him the most popular senator in the country.^[7] Fox News found Sanders to have the highest net favorability at +28 points of any prominent politician included in its March 2017 poll.^[120]

As an independent, Sanders worked out a deal with the Senate Democratic leadership in which he agreed to vote with the Democrats on all procedural matters, except with permission from Democratic

On September 24, 2008, Sanders posted an open letter to Treasury Secretary

On March 17, 2016, Sanders said he would support Merrick Garland's nomination to the Supreme Court, though he added, "there are some more progressive judges out there."^[130]

Sanders opposed Neil Gorsuch's nomination to the Court, saying that Gorsuch had "refused to answer legitimate questions."^[131] Sanders also objected to the possibility of Senate Republicans using the nuclear option to "choke off debate and ram the nomination through the Senate."^[131]

Senate Budget Committee

In January 2015, Sanders became the ranking minority member of the Senate Budget Committee.^[122] He appointed economics professor Stephanie Kelton, a modern monetary theory scholar and self-described "deficit owl", as the chief economic adviser for the committee's Democratic minority^[132] and presented a report aimed at helping "rebuild the disappearing middle class", which included proposals to raise the minimum wage, boost infrastructure spending, and increase Social Security payments.^[133]

Committee assignments

According to his senate website, Sanders's committee assignments during 2016 were as follows:^[134]

• Committee on the Budget (Ranking Member)
• Committee on Environment and Public Works
  • Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety
  • Subcommittee on Green Jobs and the New Economy
  • Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure
• Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
  • Subcommittee on Energy
  • Subcommittee on National Parks
  • Subcommittee on Water and Power
• Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
  • Subcommittee on Children and Families
  • Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging
    , (Ranking Member)
• Committee on Veterans' Affairs (former Chair)

2016 Presidential campaign

Sanders announced his intention to seek the

Sanders used social media to help his campaign gain momentum,[144] posting content to online platforms such as Twitter and Facebook and answering questions on Reddit. He gained a large grassroots organizational following online. A July 29, 2015, meetup organized online brought 100,000 supporters to more than 3,500 simultaneous events nationwide.^[145]

Sanders's campaign events in June 2015 drew overflow crowds around the country, to his surprise.^{[146][147][148]} When Hillary Clinton and Sanders made public appearances within days of each other in Des Moines, Iowa, Sanders drew larger crowds, even though he had already made numerous stops around the state and Clinton's visit was her first in 2015.^[149] On July 1, 2015, Sanders's campaign stop in Madison, Wisconsin, drew the largest crowd of any 2016 presidential candidate to that date, with an estimated turnout of 10,000.^[150][151] Over the following weeks he gained even larger crowds: 11,000 in Arizona,^[152] 15,000 in Seattle,^[153] and 28,000 in Portland.^[154]

Party presidential debates

The 2016 Democratic Party presidential debates occurred among candidates in the campaign for the Democratic Party's nomination for the President of the United States. The DNC announced in May 2015 that there would be six debates. Critics alleged that the small number of debates and the schedule, with half of the debates on Saturday or Sunday nights, were part of the DNC's deliberate attempt to protect the front-runner, Hillary Clinton.^[155] In February 2016, Clinton's and Sanders's campaigns agreed in principle to holding four more debates for a total of ten.^[156] Clinton dropped out of the tenth debate, scheduled to take place just prior to the California elections, citing a need to devote her time making direct contact with voters in California. Sanders expressed disappointment that Clinton would cancel the debate "before the largest and most important primary in the presidential nominating process".^[157]

Polls and news coverage

A NBC/Wall Street Journal poll conducted in May found Clinton and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump in a "dead heat", but the same poll found that if Sanders were the Democratic nominee, 53% of voters would support him to 39% for Trump.^[158] Clinton and Trump were the least popular likely candidates in the poll's history, while Sanders received a 43% positive, 36% negative rating.^[159] Polls showed that Democratic voters older than 50 preferred Clinton by a large margin but those under 50 overwhelmingly favored Sanders.^[160]

Some supporters raised concerns that publications such as The New York Times minimized coverage of the Sanders campaign in favor of other candidates', especially Trump's and Clinton's.

After the final primary election, Clinton became the presumptive Democratic nominee.

In a March 2017 Fox News poll, Sanders's 61% approval rating was the highest among all politicians rated, versus 43% for Donald Trump, 47% for Mike Pence and 37% for Paul Ryan.^[168] In April 2017, a nationwide Harvard-Harris Poll found Sanders had the highest favorability rating of the leading political figures included in the poll,^[169] a standing confirmed by subsequent polling.^[170]

Noam Chomsky stated in a May 2017 BBC interview that the Sanders campaign, by breaking with a century-old political system of reliance on corporate funding, was the most remarkable thing about the 2016 election.^[171] Chomsky said Sanders "came from nowhere", used the "scare word 'socialist'", and "would have won the Democratic Party nomination if it hadn’t been for the shenanigans of the Obama-Clinton party managers who kept him out."^[172]

Political activities

Sanders's book

To build on momentum gained during the 2016 election campaign, Sanders and supporters founded a political action committee and a political education organization:

• Brand New Congress – In April 2016, former Sanders presidential campaign staffers formed a political organization, Brand New Congress, to elect Congressional representatives in line with the campaign's political platform.^[174]
• Our Revolution – In August 2016, Sanders founded Our Revolution, an organization dedicated to educating voters about political issues, getting people involved in the political process, and recruiting and supporting candidates for local, state, and national office.^[175][176]

On February 16, 2017, Sanders began webcasting The Bernie Sanders Show using Facebook live streaming. As of April 2, 2017, guests have included William Barber, Josh Fox, Jane Mayer, and Bill Nye. Nye's episode has 4.6 million views and 25,000 shares.^[177][178]

Political positions

This article is part of a series on
Socialism in the United States
History Utopian socialism Bishop Hill Commune Brook Farm Icarians Jonestown Looking Backward New Harmony Oneida Community Progressive Era 1877 St. Louis general strike 1912 Lawrence textile strike Catholic Worker Movement Green Corn Rebellion Labor unionization Haymarket affair May Day Women's suffrage Repression and persecution American Defense Society American Protective League Communist Party USA and African Americans Communist Party USA in the labor movement 1919–1937 1937–1957 Espionage Act of 1917 First Red Scare John Birch Society McCarthyism Seattle General Strike Smith Act Smith Act trials Anti-war and civil rights movements Black power movement COINTELPRO "I Have a Dream" March on Washington New Left Poor People's Campaign Contemporary 1999 Seattle WTO protests 2007–2008 financial crisis Occupy Wall Street
People Abern Alston Andrews Avrich Balagoon Bellamy (Edward) Bellamy (Francis) Berger Berkman Bookchin Brisbane Brooks Browder Bush Butler Cabet Cannon Cantor Carmichael Chomsky Cockburn Davis (Angela) Davis (Mike) Dean Day Debs Dennis De Leon Dreiser Du Bois Ehrenreich Ervin Fearing Feinberg Ford Foster Gitlow Gilmore Goldman Graeber Greene Guthrie Hall Hammett Hampton Harrington Hay Haywood (Bill) Haywood (Harry) Hawkins Hedges Heywood (Angela) Heywood (Ezra) Hill Hillquit Hoan Hoffman Jameson Keller King Labadie London Lovestone Lum Marcy McReynolds Moore Morello Most Mitchell Newton Noyes Ocasio-Cortez Ochs Parenti Parsons (Albert) Parsons (Lucy) Piker Piven Randolph Ripley Reed Rocha Rocker Roediger Rustin Ruthenberg Sacco Sandburg Sanders Sakai Sawant Seale Seeger Seidel Shachtman Shakur Stone Sweezy Thomas Tlaib Turner West Wolff Wood Zeidler Zerzan Zinn
Active organizations Black Riders Liberation Party Black Socialists in America Communist Party USA Democratic Socialists of America Freedom Road Socialist Organization Freedom Socialist Party Green Mountain Peace and Justice Party Green Party of the United States Industrial Workers of the World Justice Party New Afrikan Black Panther Party Party for Socialism and Liberation Peace and Freedom Party Progressive Labor Party Redneck Revolt Revolutionary Communist Party, USA Socialist Action Socialist Alternative Social Democrats, USA Socialist Equality Party Socialist Party USA Socialist Rifle Association Socialist Workers Party Solidarity Spark Spartacist League Working Families Party Vermont Progressive Party Workers World Party Working Class Party World Socialist Party of the United States
Inactive or defunct organizations American Labor Party American Union of Associationists American Workers Party Black Panther Party Communist League of America Communist League of Struggle Communist Workers' Party Democratic Socialist Federation Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee Freedom Party of New York Human Rights Party Independent Socialist League International Socialists International Socialist Organization International Workingmen's Association Maoist Internationalist Movement Red Guards New American Movement Nonpartisan League Proletarian Party of America Puerto Rican Socialist Party Revolutionary Socialist League Revolutionary Youth Movement Social Democracy of America Social Democratic Federation Social Democratic Party of America Socialist Labor Party of America Socialist Party of America Students for a Democratic Society Weather Underground White Panther Party Workers Party of the United States
Works Appeal to Reason Current Affairs Daily Worker Dissent International Socialist Review Jacobin The Jungle Looking Backward Monopoly Capital Monthly Review The Other America A People's History of the United States Voluntary Socialism Why Socialism? Z
Related topics American Left Anarchism (in the US) Anarcho-communism Anarcho-syndicalism Bill of Rights socialism Democratic socialism Green anarchism Individualist anarchism (in the US) Labor history Labor laws Labor unions Libertarian socialism Market socialism Marxism Marxism–Leninism Maoism Minimum wage Mutualism Post-left anarchy Scientific socialism Social democracy Socialism Trotskyism Utopian socialism
Socialism portal United States portal
v t e

Part of a series on
Social democracy
History Age of Enlightenment Frankfurt Declaration French Revolution Godesberg Program Humanism Internationalist–defencist schism Keynesianism Labor movement Marxism Orthodox Revisionist Nordic model Reformist–revolutionary dispute Socialism Revolutions of 1848 Utopian socialism Welfare capitalism
Concepts Civil liberties Critical theory Democracy Economic Industrial Representative Dirigisme Environmentalism Environmental protection Fair trade Gradualism Institutional abuse Internationalism Land reform Labor rights Left-wing nationalism Mixed economy Nationalization Negative and positive rights Progressivism Reformism Left Socialism Revolutionary socialism Secularism Social corporatism Social justice Social market economy Socialist state Capitalism Socialism Structural abuse Structural violence Trade union Tripartism Welfare Welfare state
Variants Democratic socialism Ethical socialism Evolutionary socialism Liberal socialism Socialism of the 21st century Third Way
People Ambedkar Allende Ardern Attlee Awolowo Batlle y Ordóñez Bebel Ben-Gurion Bernstein Betancourt Bhutto Blair Blanc Brandt Branting Brown Callaghan Cárdenas Clark Craxi Crosland Corbyn Curtin Daszyński Debs Douglas Drees Ebert Ecevit Engels Fraser Gaitskell Gandhi González Goulart Hardie Hilferding İnönü Jaurès Jenkins Jumblatt Junmai Katayama Kautsky Kerensky Kéthly Kirk Lagos Lassalle Layton Lenin Lévesque Liebknecht (father) Liebknecht (son) Luxemburg MacDonald Mandela Marx Myrdal Nehru Palme Plekhanov Prodi Russell Sanders Savage Stauning Thomas Den Uyl Webb Whitlam Wilson Zhordania
Organizations International Trade Union Confederation International Union of Socialist Youth Party of European Socialists Progressive Alliance Socialist International Young European Socialists Network of Social Democracy in Asia
By region Austria Germany United States
Related Communism "The Internationale" Socialism Types of socialism
Economics portal Politics portal Socialism portal
v t e

Main article: Political positions of Bernie Sanders

Sanders is a self-described democratic socialist,^[183] and progressive who admires the Nordic model of social democracy and is a proponent of workplace democracy.^{[184][180][185]} In November 2015, Sanders gave a speech at Georgetown University about his view of democratic socialism, including its place in the policies of presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson.^[186][187] In defining what democratic socialism means to him, Sanders said: "I don't believe government should take over the grocery store down the street or own the means of production, but I do believe that the middle class and the working families who produce the wealth of America deserve a decent standard of living and that their incomes should go up, not down. I do believe in private companies that thrive and invest and grow in America, companies that create jobs here, rather than companies that are shutting down in America and increasing their profits by exploiting low-wage labor abroad."^[186] Based on Sanders's positions and votes throughout his political career, Noam Chomsky and Thomas Frank have described Sanders as "a New Dealer".^{[6][nb 2]}

Many commentators have noted the consistency of Sanders's views throughout his political career.^[188][189]

Trade

Calling international trade agreements a "disaster for the American worker", Sanders voted against and has spoken for years against

PNTR with China, saying that they have resulted in American corporations moving abroad. He also strongly opposes the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which he says was "written by corporate America and the pharmaceutical industry and Wall Street."^[190][191]

Social benefits

Sanders focuses on economic issues such as

vacation time, noting that such laws have been adopted by nearly all other developed countries.^[199] He also supports legislation that would make it easier for workers to join or form a trade union.^[200][201]

Climate change

Sanders advocates bold action to reverse

Keystone XL Pipeline, it "will have a significant impact on our climate."^[206]

Financial reform

Sanders has advocated greater democratic participation by citizens, campaign finance reform, and a constitutional amendment or judicial decision that would overturn Citizens United v. FEC.^{[207][208][209]} He calls for comprehensive financial reforms,^[210] such as breaking up "too big to fail" financial institutions, restoring Glass–Steagall legislation, reforming the Federal Reserve Bank and allowing the Post Office to offer basic financial services in economically marginalized communities.^[215]

Health care

Sanders is a staunch supporter of a universal health care system, and has said, "If you are serious about real healthcare reform, the only way to go is single-payer."^[216] He advocates lowering the cost of drugs that are expensive because they remain under patent for years; some drugs that cost thousands of dollars per year in the U.S. are available for hundreds, or less, in countries where they can be obtained as generics.^[217] As chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging, Sanders has introduced legislation to reauthorize and strengthen the Older Americans Act, which supports Meals on Wheels and other programs for seniors.^[218] He supported the Affordable Care Act, though he felt it didn't go far enough.^[219]

On May 4, 2017, in response to the House vote to

Politifact rated Sanders's statement "mostly true".^[221]

Social issues

Sanders has liberal stances on social issues, having advocated for

private, for-profit prisons^{[226][227][228]} and the death penalty.^[229] Sanders supports Black Lives Matter.^[230] He supports legalizing marijuana at the federal level.^[231]

War and peace

Sanders strongly opposed the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)'s attacks in Paris, Sanders cautioned against "Islamophobia" and said, "We gotta be tough, not stupid" in the war against ISIL, adding that the U.S. should continue to welcome Syrian refugees.^[236]

On 12 June 2017, U.S. senators reached an agreement on legislation imposing

new sanctions on Russia. The bill was opposed only by Sanders and Republican Rand Paul.^[237]

Democratic Party

Born into a

1988. His endorsement of Mondale was lukewarm (telling reporters that "if you go around saying that Mondale would be a great president, you would be a liar and a hypocrite"), but he supported Jackson enthusiastically.^[239] The Washington Post reported that the Jackson campaign helped inspire Sanders to work more closely with the Democratic Party.^[239][51]

Once elected to the House of Representatives, Sanders joined the Democratic caucus, though some conservative southern Democrats initially barred him from the caucus as they believed that allowing a self-described socialist to join it would harm their electoral prospects.[51] He soon came to work constructively with Democrats, voting with the party more than 90 percent of the time during his tenure in the House and Senate.^[51]

Starting in November 2015, in connection with his presidential campaign, Sanders's announcements suggested that not only was he running as a Democrat, but that he would run as a Democrat in future elections.^{[240][241][242]} When challenged by Clinton about his party commitment, he said, "Of course I am a Democrat and running for the Democratic nomination."^[243] During the campaign, news sources often referred to him as a Democrat.^{[244][245][246]} Since he remained a senator, elected as an independent, the United States Senate website continued to refer to Sanders as an independent during the campaign and upon his return to the senate.^[247] He confirmed at the end of the campaign that he remained an independent in the senate for the balance of his term, since that was how he was elected.^[248]

Sanders advocated that, following Trump's victory in the 2016 elections, the Democratic Party undergo a "series of reforms" and that it had to "break loose from its corporate establishment ties and, once again, become a grass-roots party of working people, the elderly and the poor."^[249]

Critiques of the Trump administration

Sanders has criticized President Trump for appointing multiple billionaires to his cabinet.

Syrian Civil War, noting that "it's easier to get into a war than out of one."^[252] Sanders has promised to defeat "Trump and Trumpism and the Republican right-wing ideology".^[253]

Endorsement of Jeremy Corbyn

In August 2016, Sanders endorsed

Labour Party leadership election.^[254]

In June 2017, he endorsed Corbyn in the

2017 UK general election. During a speech promoting his book at the Brighton Festival,^[255] he said: "What Corbyn has tried to do with the Labour Party is not dissimilar to what some of us are trying to do with the Democratic Party, and that is to make it a party that is much more open and inviting for working people and young people and not have a liberal elite making the decisions from the top down. I think what Corbyn is doing is trying to revitalise democracy, bring a lot of new people into the political process and I think that's an excellent idea..."^[256] He added: "...he has taken on the establishment of the Labour Party, he has gone to the grassroots and he has tried to transform that party..."^[255]

After the 2017 general election, Sanders wrote in The New York Times that "the British elections should be a lesson for the Democratic Party" and urged the Democrats to stop holding on to an "overly cautious, centrist ideology" and explaining how "momentum shifted to Labour after it released a very progressive manifesto that generated much enthusiasm among young people and workers".^[257][258]

Personal life

Jane O'Meara in Des Moines, Iowa

, January 2016

In 1963, Sanders and Deborah Shiling, whom he met in college, volunteered for several months on the Israeli

Jane O'Meara Driscoll (née Mary Jane O'Meara), who later became president of Burlington College, in Burlington, Vermont.^[261] The day after their wedding, the couple visited the Soviet Union as part of an official delegation in his capacity as mayor.^[262][263] Sanders considers Jane's three children — Dave Driscoll, Carina Driscoll, and Heather Titus (née Driscoll) — to be his own.^[37][264] He also has seven grandchildren.^[265]

In December 1987, during his tenure as mayor, Sanders recorded a folk album titled We Shall Overcome with 30 Vermont musicians. As Sanders was not skilled at singing, he performed his vocals in a talking blues style.^[266][267] Sanders appeared in a cameo role in the 1988 comedy-drama film Sweet Hearts Dance, playing a man who distributes candy to young trick-or-treaters.^[268] In 1999, he acted in the film My X-Girlfriend's Wedding Reception, playing the role of Rabbi Manny Shevitz. In this role he mourned the Brooklyn Dodgers moving to Los Angeles, reflecting Sanders's own upbringing in Brooklyn.^[269] On February 6, 2016, Sanders was a guest star alongside Larry David on Saturday Night Live, playing a Polish immigrant on a steamship that was sinking near the Statue of Liberty.^[270]

On December 4, 2015, Sanders won Time's 2015 Person of the Year readers' poll with 10.2% of the vote^[271][272] but did not receive the editorial board's award.

Sanders's elder brother,

2015 British general election and came in fifth.^[276][277] Sanders told CNN, "I owe my brother an enormous amount. It was my brother who actually introduced me to a lot of my ideas."^[277]

Sanders received an Honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Brooklyn College on May 30, 2017.^[278]

After complaints made in 2016 by Donald Trump's Vermont campaign chairman, the FBI launched an investigation into Sanders's wife Jane's involvement in a bank loan for Burlington College when she was its president.^{[279][280][281][282]} The Washington Post reported on June 25, 2017 that Sanders himself is not under FBI investigation.^[283] Both Sanders and his wife have retained prominent counsel during the investigation.^[282][281]

After receiving nearly $900,000 in royalty advances for his recently published books, Sanders reported earnings of just over $1 million in 2016.^[284]

Religion and heritage

As Sanders described his upbringing as an

bar mitzvah^[286] at the historic Kingsway Jewish Center in Midwood, Brooklyn, where he grew up.^[285]

In 1963, in cooperation with the Labor Zionist youth movement Hashomer Hatzair, Sanders and his first wife volunteered at Sha'ar HaAmakim, a kibbutz in northern Israel.^{[287][288][289][290]} His motivation for the trip was as much socialistic as it was Zionistic.^[285]

As mayor of Burlington, Sanders allowed a Chabad public menorah to be placed at city hall, an action contested by the local ACLU chapter. He publicly inaugurated the Hanukkah menorah and performed the Jewish religious ritual of blessing Hanukkah candles.^[285] His early and strong support played a significant role in the now widespread public menorah celebrations around the globe.^{[291][292][293][294]} When asked about his Jewish heritage, Sanders has said he is "proud to be Jewish".^[26][290]

Sanders rarely speaks about religion.^[286] He describes himself as "not particularly religious"^[26] and "not actively involved" with organized religion.^[286] A press package issued by his office states "Religion: Jewish".^[295] He has said he believes in God, though not necessarily in a traditional manner: "I think everyone believes in God in their own ways," he said. "To me, it means that all of us are connected, all of life is connected, and that we are all tied together."^[286][296] In October 2015, on the late-night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Kimmel asked Bernie, "You say you are culturally Jewish and you don't feel religious; do you believe in God and do you think that's important to the people of the United States?" Sanders replied:^[297]

I am who I am, and what I believe in and what my spirituality is about is that we're all in this together. That I think it is not a good thing to believe as human beings we can turn our backs on the suffering of other people ... and this is not Judaism, this is what Pope Francis is talking about, that we can't just worship billionaires and the making of more and more money. Life is more than that.

In 2016, he stated he had "very strong religious and spiritual feelings" and explained, "My spirituality is that we are all in this together and that when children go hungry, when veterans sleep out on the street, it impacts me."^[298]

Sanders does not regularly attend synagogue, and he works on

Roman Catholic, and he has frequently expressed admiration for Pope Francis, saying that "the leader of the Catholic Church is raising profound issues. It is important that we listen to what he has said." Sanders has said he feels "very close" to Francis's economic teachings, describing him as "incredibly smart and brave".^{[18][301][302]} In April 2016, Sanders accepted an invitation from Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, an aide close to the pope, to speak at a Vatican conference on economic and environmental issues. While at the Vatican, Sanders met briefly with the pontiff.^[303][304]

See also

• American Left
• Democratic Party presidential candidates, 2016
• History of the socialist movement in the United States
• List of elected socialist mayors in the United States
• List of Jewish members of the United States Congress
• Senate Democratic Caucus
• Third party officeholders in the United States
• The People for Bernie Sanders

Notes

1. ^ Hitler lost the election for the presidency of Germany on March 13, 1932, when Hindenburg received 49.6 percent of the vote to Hitler's 30.1 percent.^[28] But the Nazi Party, led by Hitler, won a plurality in the Reichstag, Germany's lower house of parliament, in July 1932, and retained its status as the largest party thereafter.^[29]
2. ^ Thomas Frank's comments are mentioned in the following book review:
   Lozada, Carlos (March 11, 2016). "The liberal war over the Obama legacy has already begun". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 17, 2016.

References