During this presidential election, we have seen big Wall Street companies and Super PACS speak up and support our candidates, all except for one. Bernie Sanders has refused to take money from either source, which is a quality I and other Sanders supports admire since the billionaire class has too much power in our political system. Bernie Sanders wants his support to be from the people and two influential figures who have spoken out to support him are Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the creators of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream.
The two have stated that they as people, not as their corporation, are supporting Sanders. The way that they are doing this is by traveling around the country and speaking out on why Bernie Sanders is our best candidate. The two have been longtime Vermont supports, watching Sanders political career only improving over the years and his message never changing. The two recently came to my school Smith College to speak out on why we should go out to vote in the upcoming Massachusetts primary. I went in already deciding that I am going to vote for Bernie Sanders, but when I left after hearing them speak it made me feel more fired up to support Bernie Sanders and do anything in my power to help this man reach the White House. Part of their speech that really resonated with me was when they said:
"You might think that, well this is the way it usually is. Well, it's not, usually, it's a choice between the lesser of two evils and nobody's really that excited about it, but you vote for the best person you can vote for. This is historic because it's finally a candidate worth voting for. It's finally a candidate who is willing to take on the entrenched moneyed, corporate interests."
They're absolutely right. A candidate like Bernie Sanders has never been introduced before and knowing that I have a candidate like him during my first presidential election makes me feel that my vote really matters. Young voters can turn this election around, all we have to do is go out and vote and make our voices heard. Someone like Bernie Sanders, just like Cohen said, "only comes once in a generation."
So just like Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, I am going to stress to you reading this to please go out and vote. Your vote can change this election and your vote can make a difference, you have a say in who our next President can be so please register in your state and vote in these primaries.