It was August 1963, when the young left-wing and anti-war activist Bernie Sanders, participating in the non-violent mass rally March on Washington, listened to Martin Luther King's inspired speech "I have a dream". That famous speech, which forever changed the attitude of the American nation towards black and human rights, had a huge impact on the formation of Sanders' future political and ideological agenda. Rebellious youthful enthusiasm and revolutionary ideas about freedom, justice and equality remained - even after more than half a century - the guiding principles of a graduated political scientist, mayor, congressman and senator, and today one of the most serious candidates for the presidency of the USA.
NON-PARTY POLITICIAN: Although Sanders has been a member of the American Congress for 25 years, both in the lower and upper houses, this entire period he was an independent representative and did not belong to any party. He formally joined the Democrats only last year, when he announced that he would compete in the intra-party race for the party's candidate in the upcoming US presidential elections. Although he was considered a complete outsider at the beginning of the campaign, this agile 74-year-old managed to assert himself as the "new face" of American politics.
A large part of the public there, especially the young, recognize in Sanders someone who could enable social changes to start "from above", from the top, because for decades the American domestic and foreign policy has been ruled by a narrow group of people from the rich and influential Washington establishment, such as and members of political dynasties, economic and financial elites, alienated from the common man and his problems. Current President Barack Obama, on the wave of such a desire for change, won a place in the White House, but after two full presidential terms, few of his former supporters are satisfied with his performance.
In order for Bernie Sanders to even be able to be elected president of the United States, he needs to jump over an extremely difficult "obstacle" and win internal party elections against Hillary Clinton, former first lady of the USA and former secretary of state, until recently a convincing favorite, not only among democrats, but also in the wider public.
Hillary Clinton is considered the representative and candidate of precisely those influential groups that Bernie Sanders has been fighting against for decades. Behind her is a huge financial, political and media machine, but, as her party rival noted at the pre-election debate, she can hardly present herself as a fighter for equality, while her campaign is financed by the bearers of that inequality: investment hedge funds from Wall Street. , banks and large corporations. Among them are banks like Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, then the infamous agricultural company Monsanto, or the Podesta lobbying organization, engaged to provide PR and internal support to the military and pharmaceutical industry.
LOBBYING AND EARNINGS: According to the "Wall Street Journal", Hillary and her husband, the 42nd president of the USA, William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton, earned a fabulous 25 million dollars in the previous year alone, giving lectures at numerous business meetings. Thanks to this, the Clinton couple is in the 0,1 percent of the richest Americans who shape and direct the social and political processes in the USA. In contrast to them, Bernie Sanders, according to the data of the media organization NPR, had in 2014 income in the amount of slightly more than 205.000 dollars, and the largest part of the earnings comes from the senator's salary, which is 174.000 dollars.
In the recently held first internal party elections in the American state of Iowa, the two leading Democratic opponents were in a surprisingly close race, which Hillary Clinton narrowly won, with increasingly loud rumors about the irregularities of the election process itself and the counting of votes. However, after these primaries, Bernie Sanders did not hide his satisfaction, telling his voters that "what Iowa started tonight is a political revolution." He, in the manner of a hardened fighter for justice, sent a clear message to the ruling class that the time has come for them to understand that "when young people, workers and pensioners stand up and say loud and clear - what is too much, is too much", it represents an important warning, because "the government of our great country belongs to all of us, not just billionaires."
POLITICAL DIFFERENCES: The latest forecasts tracking the popularity of candidates at the national level, published by ABC News last week, say that the lead that Hillary Clinton had over her main opponent has practically melted away. Compared to the December survey, when Clinton had an advantage of as much as 31 percent of the vote over Sanders, today it is only a two percent advantage in favor of the former first lady of the USA. She can count on the support of 44 percent of those asked, while Senator Bernie Sanders has 42 percent. Also, he is the clear favorite in the next internal party elections, which will be held in New Hampshire on February 9, and the results of which will be known when this issue of "Vremen" is already in print.
Although they formally belong to the same political camp, the two main candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination have in many respects very opposing visions of American foreign and domestic policy. Clinton belongs to the "hawks" of the American political scene, known for advocating for stronger American advocacy and influence in the world. Also, the democratic rivals have different opinions about the American intervention in both wars that were fought in Iraq, in 1991 and 2003, as well as in Afghanistan and Libya. "I would say that the disastrous invasion of Iraq, something that I strongly opposed, greatly devastated the region and led to the rise of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State," Sanders said. He is also an advocate of decisive actions aimed at reversing the process of global warming, which, according to him, is a major threat to US national security.
Clinton and Sanders do not even agree on the future role of NATO on the global level. Senator Bernie Sanders opposed the further expansion of the alliance, believing that it would be important to integrate Russia into a "new NATO", especially considering its involvement in Syria and the Middle East. However, Bernie Sanders definitely tarnished his otherwise clean anti-war image with his unequivocal support for American President Bill Clinton to bomb Serbia and the FRY in the spring of 1999.
The leading Democratic party rivals have different views on other important matters as well. Sanders was against the adoption of the so-called The Patriot Act, which allowed the US government to monitor and spy on its citizens. At one time, he also raised his voice against the rescue of financial institutions in 2008, when, with taxpayers' money, those banks were saved that brought America, as well as the whole world, to the brink of ruin with their irresponsible and wasteful policies. Bernie Sanders is also an opponent of the NAFTA agreement, which enables free trade between the US, Canada and Mexico, as well as other similar agreements, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, as well as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, calling them a disaster for American workers. By comparison, for all these decisions - from funding global military interventions and wars, spying on citizens or cutting taxes for the rich - Hillary Clinton always voted yes.
THE PEOPLE'S CANDIDATE: Unlike her influential rival, who financially bases her entire campaign on generous donations from the ultra-rich, Senator Bernie Sanders is proud of the fact that he is not supported by the powerful circles of the USA, but by millions of ordinary citizens who pay modest amounts to his campaign. "We raised money from 3,5 million people, with donations averaging $27," Sanders said. In accordance with his "socialist" principles, he refused to accept financial support from big capital, believing that this is the only way he will be independent of their influence, if he takes the oath in January 2017 and officially moves into the White House. "If I am elected president, the foxes will no longer guard the henhouse," Sanders wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times.
In the first one-on-one debate of the Democratic Party's leading candidates, Hillary Clinton sharply attacked her rival, saying that his ideas about free college and universal health care for all Americans were promises that could not be kept. Sanders responded that these were not radical ideas, but that his proposal for free college education would be financed by a tax on financial transactions and speculation on Wall Street. "The middle class bailed out Wall Street when it needed it." "Now is the time for Wall Street to help the middle class," he said. Bernie Sanders also lashed out at the entire American economic system, which, according to him, is rigged in favor of the richest classes, while the political system in the US is additionally corrupted due to the excessive influence of money on politicians. "There's a reason why all these people are pouring huge sums of money into our political system." It undermines democracy and allows Congress to represent wealthy campaign financiers, not citizens who have ordinary jobs," the senator said in the debate.
CHILD OF JEWISH IMMIGRANTS: Bernie Sanders, the child of Polish-Jewish immigrants who immigrated to the US in the early 20th century, was born on September 8, 1941, in Brooklyn, New York. His father immigrated to the USA in 1921, while his mother's parents arrived in New York from Poland in 1912. A part of Sanders' relatives, who remained living in Eastern Europe, disappeared in the pogrom of the Holocaust. Sanders graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in political science in 1964.
For a time, during the sixties, he volunteered in a kibbutz in Israel, which is also known as the "Yugoslav kibbutz" because it was founded by Yugoslav and Romanian immigrants. He has been married twice and has one son, Levi Sanders, from a relationship with his former girlfriend. His second wife has three children, whom he accepted and considers his own, as well as seven grandchildren. His second wife is of the Roman Catholic faith, and he himself is often able to praise Pope Francis for his speeches about economic equality and the need for a different world.
Back in 2006 and then in 2012, he was elected as a senator, after serving as a congressman for sixteen years, also for the state of Vermont. Back in 1981, he was elected mayor of Burlington, the largest city in the state, and after four consecutive two-year terms at the head of the city, he voluntarily left the position in 1989. After that, he taught political science at Harvard University for a while.
The media has completely ignored this politician, who is atypical for the USA, for many years, considering him a "socialist", which still sounds like a political heresy to conservative America. Given that he is most strongly supported by the youth, aged 18 to 24 - according to the latest research, as many as 65 percent of them - this 74-year-old senator is considered "the oldest candidate supported by the youngest electorate". On the one hand, Sanders' success is due to an increasingly common social phenomenon around the world, which indicates that voters are fed up with self-righteous elites, who have not represented their interests for a long time. Also, a large number of people have always been able to identify with outsiders, a kind of anti-heroes, who, despite difficulties, persevere in the unequal struggle of the individual against the system.
