I want to know 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. Bernie Sanders More Quotes by Bernie Sanders More Quotes From Bernie Sanders I think what you've got are millions of people who are in trouble today. They really are. They're confused. They're working longer hours for lower wages. They're seeing productivity going up but their kids are worse off economically than they are. They're looking at a campaign finance system in politics and they see corruption, big money buying elections. Nobody in Congress is listening to them. Bernie Sanders confused kids thinking How do we say, why do you keep voting for people who are giving more tax breaks to billionaires, who are going to send your jobs abroad, not going to let you form a union, not going to allow your kids to go to college? Why do you keep voting for these guys? Bernie Sanders college jobs kids In the 1980s and 1990s, Jack Welch, the CEO of General Electric, laid off over 100,000 employees. His reward? When he retired from GE, he received a golden parachute of over $400 million dollars. This is the kind of corporate greed and irresponsibility that is destroying the middle class and must be ended. Bernie Sanders rewards greed class If a financial institution is too big to fail, it is too big to exist. Bernie Sanders institutions financial failing The reality is that we have one of lowest voter turnouts of any major country on earth because so many people have given up on the political process. The reality is that there has been trillions of dollars of wealth going from the middle class in the last 30 years to the top 1/10th of 1 percent. Bernie Sanders country reality years The American people are growing extremely unhappy with establishment politics, with establishment economics, and you know what else? Even with establishment media. Bernie Sanders media unhappy people In many respects, this country is becoming an oligarchy, with a tiny percentage of America owning the media, owning the country. Bernie Sanders media country america I have spent the better part of my adult life standing up and fighting for working families. Bernie Sanders standing adults fighting We are spending hundreds of billions of dollars maintaining 5,000 nuclear weapons. I think we need major reform in the military, making it more cost effective, but also focusing on the real crisis that faces America. Bernie Sanders real military thinking Clearly we must do everything we can to protect our country from the serious potential of another terrorist attack, but we can and must do so in a way that also protects the constitutional rights of the American people and maintains our free society. We can do that without living in an Orwellian world where the government and private corporations know every telephone call that we make, every website we visit, everyplace we go. Bernie Sanders government rights country If the goal of health-care reform is to provide comprehensive, universal health care in a cost-effective way, the only honest approach is a single-payer approach. Bernie Sanders reform cost goal I think my experience at the University of Chicago, working in the civil rights movement, working in the peace movement, working with community organizations, did a lot to influence the politics that I have. Bernie Sanders organization rights thinking So as a nation, we have a right to be very proud of the successes that we have seen because of the struggle of millions of people to create a less discriminatory society. That is something we should be proud of, but there is one struggle in which not only have we not succeeded but in which we are losing ground and that is the fundamental struggle for economic justice. Bernie Sanders struggle justice people Between 2013 and 2015, the wealthiest 14 people saw their wealth increase by $157 billion. This is their wealth increase, got it? Not what they are worth. Increase. That $157 billion is more wealth than is owned by the bottom 40 percent of the American people. One family, the Walton family, owns more wealth than the bottom 40 percent. Bernie Sanders wealth saws people No. It is not acceptable that the 6 largest financial institutions in this country have assets of almost 10 trillion dollars, and issue half of the mortgages and two-thirds of the credit cards. That is too much wealth and power in the hands of a few. If Teddy Roosevelt were alive today he'd tell us to 'break them up.' And he'd be right. These huge banks must be broken up. Bernie Sanders issues country hands Families are struggling to put bread on the table, send their kids to college and take care of their basic needs. America needs a political revolution. Bernie Sanders college struggle kids We need to recognize the incredible challenges that so many parents face, especially working moms. We need to join the rest of the advanced world. Bernie Sanders parent mom challenges The good news is that we've seen in recent years significant reductions in the cost of solar panels and wind production. We know how significant an impact we can have by moving towards energy efficiency and transforming our transportation system. So we know what has to be done. We have to develop the political will to do it, and, as president, this would be an issue of huge concern to me. Bernie Sanders political-will years moving We are imprisoning or giving jail sentences to young people who are smoking marijuana. Bernie Sanders marijuana jail people The goal of real healthcare reform must be high-quality, universal coverage in a cost-effective way. Bernie Sanders healthcare-reform real goal
