I recently attended Bernie Sanders's presidential rally in Greensboro, NC. I've attended a number of political rallies but this one felt different. When I was about 13 during the 2008 election, I have vivid memories of the events leading to the election of Barack Obama. In fact, through 2008, there were probably more days that I wore an Obama shirt than did not. Even though I was only 13, I was excited to do everything I could to get Barack Obama elected.
As the leaves begin to turn, we're getting closer to 2016. Voters will soon begin voting to pick the Democratic nominee. While Bernie Sanders is not Barack Obama, I feel a lot of the same energy in 2015 that I felt for Barack Obama in 2008. When I tell people I support Bernie Sanders, I'm often asked: Do you think he has a chance to win? Can a socialist appeal to enough independents to become president? Or is Bernie too idealistic in a day where pragmatism works in Washington? Today, I believe that the energy I saw at the Bernie rally on Sunday exceeded anything I saw during Barack Obama in 2008.
I started 2015 firmly in Hillary Clinton's camp. In fact, I made a small donation to Hillary when she announced her presidential campaign. This piece is not about attacking Hillary. I still firmly believe that Hillary Rodham Clinton would be an incredible president, and if she is the Democratic nominee, I will proudly vote for her. But in fact, this piece is about the special candidate I believe Bernie Sanders is.
When looking at whether Bernie has a chance to win, I look across the ocean and at the UK Labour Party election, which took place this past weekend. Self described "Democratic Socialist," Jeremy Corbyn convincingly won the post of leader of the opposition, due to a groundswell of support from British commoners. Just three months ago no one would have given Corbyn a shot to become the leader of the Labour Party, expressing doubt that the British leftist party would be too afraid to elect a leader who is extremely outspoken in his leftist beliefs.
Today, Hillary Clinton is still leading in national polls for the Democratic Primary and by a significant margin. We cannot compare Bernie Sanders's poll numbers in 2015 to Barack Obama's in 2007. At this point in 2007, Barack Obama had already moved within a couple points in the polls of Hillary Clinton and had significant support among the establishment. Bernie Sanders has yet to gain a meaningful endorsement from an elected leader among the Democrats. There is momentum on the ground though.
Opponents of Bernie Sanders will contend that Sanders has no chance of winning if he doesn't attract a larger proportion of minority support. I agree. Currently, Clinton leads by large margins in polling in states with larger minority populations. But these minorities still view Sanders as somewhat of an unknown. If Bernie pulls off victories in Iowa and/or New Hampshire, Bernie won't necessarily be able to win heavily minority states such as South Carolina or Nevada, but I'm confident he'll close the deficit, as more minorities begin to take notice.
While it's an uphill climb for anyone to match the Superdelegate total that it is presumed that Hillary Clinton has, it is unlikely if the country voted for Senator Sanders that the superdelegates would swing the primary to Secretary Clinton. Bernie has tapped into a political audience, which would not traditionally be politically energized.
While it's disappointing that fewer college students care about political issues, especially when in just four short years, many college students will become large taxpayers and more fully integrated members of society. Bernie is doing unprecedented things compared to prior candidates for president.
On Monday, Bernie Sanders spoke to a crowd of students at iconic, Christian Liberty University. These are students who hold values not traditionally aligned with the Democratic Party, yet Bernie felt obligated to reach out to some hostile to his message; he went with a message of compassion. He spoke of failed justice and the moral issues, which are directly affecting our nation, he spoke of the growing schism of income inequality in our nation.
This is not a traditional presidential campaign. Bernie Sanders has rejected all Super PAC money in a day where the Koch Brothers are promising to throw nine hundred million dollars into the election to make sure their preferred candidates are elected. Bernie is basing his campaign on small donations from average citizens. He knows that the Koch Brothers each have as many votes as the one Democrat at Wake Forest, or the one Republican at Liberty. While I originally questioned that strategy, wondering how a nominee could counter the barrage of attacks that the GOP will clearly throw at him or her on such a low budget, comparatively. But the more I think about it, the more I think that the strategy might just be crazy enough to work.
Today we see Donald Trump and Ben Carson ranked one and two in the Republican Primary. Neither candidate has run for or been elected to office. As much as I disagree with both candidates' worldviews, they've tapped into something. I don't believe the vibes that Ben Carson and Donald Trump have tapped into are limited to the Republican Party. I believe the American public is sick and tired of politics as usual.
So why then am I supporting a candidate who has been in elected office since my father was in college in 1981? I believe Bernie is different. Bernie is not beholden to the interests of these donors who are giving millions to prop up their campaigns. Bernie is running, what was once, and still might be considered, a long shot campaign for President of the United States in order to do what he believes is right for the nation.
I will end on one last point. Many people are concerned about how liberal Bernie is and that he even proudly embraces the title Democratic Socialist. As the Democratic Party needs to moderate itself before going hard to the left, like the GOP has shifted hard to the right, I contend that the Democratic Party in the United States is not hard left when considered in a global context. Bernie Sanders is proposing policies, which are well inline with the policies of many other developed nations in Western Europe and across the world. Is it really radical to propose twelve weeks of family leave for women who have just given birth? Is it extreme to expect employers to pay their workers a non-poverty living wage for those who work forty hours a week? Is it ridiculous to champion the education system and promote tuition free higher education at public institutions. Is it unfair to ask the wealthiest one percent to pay more taxes in order to provide the less fortunate with social safety nets? These are all policies which have become commonplace in the developed world, yet in the United States many people call them "extreme." Bernie Sanders is looking to bring the United States to a place that the rest of the developed world has been for a while. I'm confident that Bernie Sanders is not too liberal for the United States, and even if many Clinton, Biden, or O'Malley supporters are concerned with Bernie's liberal trajectory, I strongly believe they will pull the lever for Bernie in November 2016.
To any Bernie supporter who believe that casting a vote for Bernie is throwing a vote away, go to a Bernie rally and see the energy behind the Senator's supporters. On March 1st, I'll proudly cast a vote for Bernie Sanders in the North Carolina Democratic Primary. And I hope you will too. The Democratic Primaries are just beginning, and whether you support Senator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, or another candidate, I hope you stand by your candidate and embrace your values.