Bernie Sanders: 'What We Need To Do, Which The Democratic Party, The Leadership Does Not Do...'

Forbes Breaking News

At a "Fight Oligarchy" rally in Portland, Maine, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) laid out what his supporters should do to bring about progressive advances in the U.S.

Transcript

00:00The people of Palestine.

00:18But in order to be successful politically,

00:21it's not good enough to simply take on Trump and the oligarchs every day.

00:26What we need to do, which the Democratic Party, the leadership does not do,

00:30is have a vision of where we want this country to be.

00:42And let me just remind all of you that the truth of the matter is

00:47that in the richest country on earth entered a time,

00:50and I got a lot of concerns about AI and robotics.

00:54I don't know if we can get into it tonight, but that's a whole other issue.

00:59But we have the potential to become even richer.

01:01And from a world historical point of view, throughout the history of the world,

01:05and today, people are struggling.

01:07And there are countries in the world where people are trying to survive on a dollar a day.

01:10Kids are dying from easily preventable diseases.

01:13Throughout history, human beings have struggled just to stay alive.

01:18For the first time in world history, human history,

01:22we now have the opportunity, with sane democratic policies,

01:27to create a decent life for every man, woman and child in this country.

01:33That is not a radical idea.

01:36So what I am begging of you, what I am begging of you is don't think small, think big.

01:55Health care is a human right.

02:04Every man, woman and child, we need Medicare for all.

02:07And I want young people to become doctors and nurses and health care professionals

02:22without going deeply into debt, because we desperately need you.

02:26Now, you tell me, you tell me in this great and inventive country,

02:38where we have so many brilliant minds,

02:40you tell me why we are not having the best educational system in the world.

02:49We used to be the best educated country on earth.

02:53That's no longer the case.

02:56I want every young person to know, from three years of age on,

03:00that he or she does their work well,

03:03they will be able to get all of the education they need,

03:06regardless of the income of their family.

03:13Education is a human right.

03:16We need to attract the best and the brightest into education

03:29and pay them the kind of salaries that their work demands.

03:33Which is why I have introduced legislation that no teacher in America

03:41should make a starting salary of less than $60,000 a year.

03:54We can do it.

03:56You're going to have the best childcare system in the world.

04:00Best higher education system in the world.

04:03And maybe, just maybe, instead of spending a trillion dollars on the Pentagon,

04:10a government agency which cannot even complete an independent audit,

04:14massive waste and fraud,

04:16maybe instead of spending a trillion on the Pentagon,

04:20we spend a few hundred billion dollars building low-income and affordable housing in America.

04:27Maybe instead of giving tax breaks to the fossil fuel industry,

04:48we start investing in the cheapest form of new electricity, solar and wind,

04:53to create millions of jobs to save the planet.

05:05And maybe here on Labor Day,

05:08we make it clear that at a time when millions of workers understand the importance of unions

05:14and want to join unions,

05:16we're going to pass legislation to prohibit corporations from firing workers who want to join a union.

05:27We're going to pass the PRO Act.

05:33We're going to raise the minimum wage to a living wage, 17 bucks an hour.

05:39We're going to end the absurdity of being one of very few countries in the world that does not guarantee paid family and medical leave.

05:52Now at a time when so many seniors are struggling,

06:03when half of older workers have nothing in the bank as they face retirement,

06:08you've got Republicans out there talking about their desire to cut Social Security.

06:13Well, we're not going to cut Social Security,

06:19we're going to expand Social Security benefits.

06:28And we're going to do that by lifting the cap on taxable income,

06:32so the wealthy start paying their fair share of taxes.

06:59Absolutely. Let me give you, you know, very often I get criticized like every day.

07:15People say, oh, Bernie is a radical, he's out of the mainstream and all that stuff.

07:20I want you to understand, please understand that everything we are talking about

07:25are supported by a majority of the American people.

07:29These are not radical ideas.

07:47Brothers and sisters, we got to be thinking outside the box.

07:55In this state, we got to elect Graham, and we got to elect Troy and other good people.

08:05But they can't do it alone. They really can't.

08:10And we have got to, at this moment, not just for ourselves, but for our kids and future generations

08:16and the very well-being of the planet.

08:19We got to be thinking in new ways.

08:23And that means being involved in whatever way we are comfortable in being involved.

08:29I will tell you this.

08:30What the ruling class does to their media and their culture

08:33is they basically try to say that ordinary people are powerless.

08:38What they're saying is they have all the money, they have all of the power, you've got nothing.

08:45And they can do anything they want, and you can't stop them.

08:52Well, I think we've got some news for them.

09:04Not only can we stop them, not only will we stop them,

09:10but for the future of this country and, in fact, the world,

09:14we must, must stop them.

09:28Today, on Labor Day,

09:33when we thank the unions for all they have done for the working class of this country,

09:39we understand and remember what a union is.

09:51A union is the understanding that one person cannot do it alone,

09:55that we all have got to come together to fight with and for each other.

10:01And what the union movement is about is solidarity forever.

10:06Thank you all.

10:09Thank you all.

10:11Thank you all.

10:12Thank you all.

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