Bernie Broism: Why young people support Sanders

The classic path for previous generations of getting a college education, choosing a career and saving up enough to buy a home and start a family simply isn’t feasible for the average young American. At least not without racking up inescapable debt, unless you are privileged enough to have financial support from generational wealth. According to Forbes, the cost of a college education has risen at eight times the rate of the average salary. Housing costs, especially in expensive areas like the Bay Area, are skyrocketing. Almost 40 million Americans are living in poverty, and nowadays it’s almost impossible to live on a minimum wage salary and still afford housing, food, health care and basic necessities. The bottom line is that our American Dream is less achievable than ever. Young people are not as worried about economic prosperity and booming businesses, global power, militarism or corporate wealth. Young Bernie supporters want social progression: gun control laws, immediate action against climate change and to ease the divide between races, classes, sexualities and genders. Sanders’ policies show us that even if he can’t create the amount of change he promises because of difficulty passing concrete legislation through Congress, he will not be actively working to remove LGBTQ rights, ignore climate change and discriminate against Americans based on national origin or religion. This unfortunately cannot be said for every candidate.

Despite Sanders’ obvious appeal to the average, working-class American, voters might be alienated by his association with democratic socialism. To many, any mention of socialism means the total control of all means of production and consumer goods that are historically associated with the economic downfall of many eastern European countries. Socialism does not mean the rise of an oppressive government or the starvation of the working people. In fact, it’s far more of a school of thought of prioritizing the average person over the economic benefit of corporations or industry. The financial ties of this kind of modernized socialism, as we’ve seen in more socialist countries like Finland, Norway or Sweden is a drastic increase in taxes, much of which is paid for by the middle class. Raised taxes are used to pay for more social welfare programs like universal health care, the expansion of Social Security or free college tuition. The good news is that this isn’t really what self-declared democratic socialists like Sanders are advocating for. Most support wealth-based tax brackets, meaning that the top 0.1% of Americans should have strong taxes enforced on them so they’re no longer allowed to hoard wealth, at least according to Sanders. Of course, putting such heavy taxes on the wealthy is controversial because of its possible ramifications on economic growth through investment or industry backing. The real problem, though is the massive wealth disparity that is responsible for so many Americans living in poverty, unable to afford basic necessities like housing, food or an education while some individuals hold incredible amounts of money and power.

Sanders doesn’t believe that billionaires should be allowed to buy elections. Despite his refusal to take corporate lobby money, Bernie has been consistently out-fundraising every other candidate. By the end of the fourth fundraising quarter of 2019, he had accumulated more than $34.5 million in donations, which averaged only $18.53 per donation, as reported by The New York Times. An analysis from The Guardian on presidential campaign donors shows that Sanders has more individual donations from nurses, members of the military and teachers than any other candidate.

As a teen, Sanders moved to Chicago and became involved in the civil rights movements of the 1960s, chairing a university chapter of the Congress for Racial Equality and organizing sit-ins to protest segregated housing at the University of Chicago, where he studied political science. When Warren and Bloomberg were registered Republicans and Biden was working to increase mass incarceration and restrict reproductive rights, Bernie Sanders was supporting Gay Pride in the ’80s, speaking out against the war in Iraq and spending decades fighting for minority rights.

This is part of what sets him so far apart from every other candidate, whether it be on a debate stage or in a Senate race. Sanders approaches issues with urgency, especially those that are the most tangible for voters like me, whether it be student debt, climate change or gun control. When you are young, you don’t vote in arbitrary games of “electability” or voter association, but rather moral alignment, trust and who you truly believe will take a stand for you. 

If aligning your vote with a candidate’s history doesn’t work for you, just look around at the wave of teens and young adults involving themselves in political activism for the first time to phone bank, canvass or advocate for Bernie. I’ve seen an incredible amount. The idea of a “Bernie Bro,” or a well-educated, middle-class white man being the biggest supporter of Senator Sanders’ candidacy simply isn’t true. He is consistently pulling in minority and first-time voters, and it’s not surprising at all. The bottom line is that he has walked his talk since the 1960s. Why don’t we go with honesty and commitment?

Josette Thornhill is a junior at Aragon High School in San Mateo. Student News appears in the weekend edition. You can email Student News at news@smdailyjournal.com.