Bernie Sanders - what does he believe?

Bernie Sanders has entered the race for becoming the president of the United States once again. And he managed to raise one million dollars in a span of just four hours. But what does he actually believe in? What does he stand for? While many people consider him to be a socialist, and he has said as much himself as well, is he really one?

Democratic Socialism

He has said that "Democratic socialism means that we must create an economy that works for all, not just the very wealthy." Whatever you might think of socialism, this statement does make sense in whatever galaxy we're in.

Climate Change

Compared to the eight-year-old bully he believes that climate change is real, saying that "The debate is over. Climate change is real and caused by human activity."

Gun control

He's not against guns but supports universal background checks. Instead of banning guns he wants to find a common ground in gun control regulation. Considering all the gun related deaths in the US it would make sense to have a tougher view on that, but we'll see if he decides to go that way at some point or not.

Free college

Education is the cornerstone of a healthy world. He says that "class equality is impossible if a majority of Americans don't have access to a college education."

Super PACs

He has said that "I do not believe that billionaires should be able to buy politicians." His donors are mostly individuals with the average contribution of just $27.

The two-party system

He believes that Americans are tired of it and things need to change.

Syria and Iraq

Sanders says that Iraq war should never have taken place, calling it the "worst foreign policy blunder in the history of this country." He's also said that when it comes to Syria, there should be no boots on the ground to fight ISIS and that Middle Eastern countries need to lead the fight in their own region. While in general we could agree with that, looking into the background of Syria and Libya - in big part the problems have escalated too much there due to the involvement of US and its Western allies. And to leave now, we believe would be irresponsible. Although, of course, something has to be changed in the approach.

Healthcare

Bernie Sanders is pro universal healthcare paid for by the federal government. He brings Canadian and Scandinavian countries as examples. His plan to finance it is mainly from a payroll tax hike. According to estimated by Gerard Friedman this would save a family earning $50 000 a year nearly $6000 in healthcare costs annually.

Taxes

He wants to tax the rich more. While I'm sure there are many people out there now shouting that why should rich people pay more from their hard earned money, they are not to blame for anything, it's a fact that if the system is reasonable, the rich can afford it, and it would help the country a lot. As one thing, he wants to expand the federal estate tax on the wealthiest 0.2% of Americans. That's to reduce the economic inequality in the US where, according to Sanders, "the richest three people in the US now own more wealth than the entire bottom half of the American population combined."

Bernie Sanders does sound like a sensible guy. Although we can't agree with everything he says, in general he does sound very reasonable.

Here's also BBC's article which talked about his beliefs a bit more.

Bernie Sanders - what does he believe?

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