I've shied away from politics altogether for some years now, but I implore any and all to spend even just a few minutes looking into our boy Bernie Sanders, hopefully our next president. Unfortunately there are still a lot of people who don't really know who Bernie is or what he's about, so I spent a few minutes throwing together a handful of Bernie facts for those uninitiated. I don't generally advocate making such decisions from small factoids and abbreviated tidbits of information but in the hopes of piquing your interest I'll fill you in on some of the basics regarding our intriguing at the least, inspirational to most, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, and will include some resources that you can look into yourself.

- He was Vermont's sole congressman for 16 years before being elected to the Senate in 2006, and is now the longest serving independent congressmen in US history.

- He was active and outspoken of the Civil Rights movement during the 60s and was a student leader of the Congress for Racial Equality, during which he was arrested for protesting institutional segregation. He marched on Washington with Martin Luther King and was there for his "I Have a Dream" speech. His legislative record has earned him a 100 rating from both the ACLU and NAACP.

- He was an outspoken ally of the LGBTQ community as early as 1972 and supported the first pride-march here in Burlington in 1983 shortly after being elected Mayor. Seriously think about that, this was 10 years before even "Don't Ask Don't Tell" in the military, and 32 years before same-sex marriage (finally) became federal law. Even in 199-fucking-6 half of Americans believed that consensual, homosexual relationships (not marriage) should be illegal, and that same year he was one of the few to vote against the "Defense of Marriage Act" (that Hillary of course supported and continued to support until very recently). Feel free to watch him crush whoever this genius was back in '95.

- Voted against the Patriot Act and its re-authorization. “In my view, the NSA is out of control and operating in an unconstitutional manner. I worry very much about kids growing up in a society where they think ‘I’m not going to talk about this issue, read this book, or explore this idea because someone may think I’m a terrorist.’ That is not the kind of free society I want for our children."

- Clinton's lead over Sanders has already been cut by half. Granted there's still a long way to go but there's plenty of time left as well. He's already taken the lead over Clinton in both New Hampshire and Iowa, two important swing states.

At first glance I'd almost say Clinton is a republican in disguise but that probably isn't fair. I would however say that the oligarchical prevalence that exists today heavily blurs the lines between blue and red and Clinton is not distinguishing herself as being apart from that.

- Probably the primary focus of his campaign (and his political career for that matter) is the economic inequality gap that has grown over the last few decades. This is obviously complicated, I'd recommend either reading about it here  or watching this video.

- And to top it off, unlike every other presidential candidate, he refuses to accept "super backers", that is, large corporate donations to his campaign. "I don't support the agenda of corporate America or the billionaire class. I don't want their money." He has roughly 405,000 different people donating an average of $31.20. Here he is with Colbert discussing this (among other things).

But seriously, don't even listen to me. Look into this yourself. He's gaining more and more support every day as the word gets out and people start hearing about who he is and always has been, an authentic, sincere guy who's been fighting for the middle class for over four decades. http://feelthebern.org/ is an excellent resource and discusses many of his ideals, policies, and plans for achieving his goals.

https://berniesanders.com/
https://www.reddit.com/r/SandersForPresident/