H/t reader M.G.:
“Here is an article summarizing why Bernie Sanders is running for president. In past years, he talked, but never would enter the race. The buying of all elections by a few greedy guts is getting old………….”
– Enter the Sand-man: Socialist Bernie Sanders blasts billionaires, corporations in presidential bid announcement (RT, April 30, 2015):
Noted critic of economic inequality, corporations and the rich, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said he was running for president to buck the system in which billionaire families were able to buy elections and candidates.
The Supreme Court’s “disastrous” decision in Citizens United created the situation in which “billionaires are literally able to buy elections and candidates,” Sanders argued. Billionaire families, he charged, are spending “hundreds and hundreds” of millions to back candidates, “often extreme right-wing” ones.
Sanders brought up the Koch brothers, major Republican donors, who he said were spending $900 million in the coming election to campaign for abolishing Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
“I wonder now, in this day and age, whether it is possible for any candidate who is not a billionaire, or who is not beholden to the billionaire class, to be able to run successful campaigns,” he said. “And if that is the case, I want you all to recognize what a sad state of affairs that is for American democracy.”
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H/t reader M.G.:
“Due to the corrupt Clinton record, this guy may have a good chance. Millions of Americans are not ready to vote for more of the same……..”
– Bernie Sanders: ‘I am running for president’ (Al Jazeera, April 29, 2015):
Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said Wednesday he will run for president as a Democrat, promising to fight what he deems “obscene levels” of income disparity and vowing to do more than just raise progressive issues.
“I believe [voters] want a fundamental change so that government works for ordinary Americans and not just billionaires,” Sanders told USA Today. He said he would make the announcement official on Thursday.
Read moreBernie Sanders: ‘I am running for president’ — Enter the Sand-man: Socialist Bernie Sanders blasts billionaires, corporations in presidential bid announcement