It’s a very rare occasion when a politician can be a role model for someone, as very few of them have solid principles that they’re not willing to compromise for money or political gain.

You can love or hate Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, but both have flip-flopped on issues when it was convenient for them.

Bernie Sanders is a man of both integrity and principle, and that is why he is my role model. He represents an ideal that we should all aspire to. Not hateful, but loving. Not ignorant, but understanding. Not cruel or cowardly, but kind.

He’s willing to listen to and consider different points of views, and he’s willing to stand up for what’s right, even if he has no hope of reward.

He’s the first politician I’ve heard bring up the idea of a moral budget, that the way we allocate funds and thereby create opportunities should be firmly grounded in our notions of equality for all.

He says what he means and means what he says. He isn’t afraid of going to prison or being silenced by big money in order to defend his principles.

He walked with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., he went to prison fighting for civil rights, and his fight didn’t end there. He went on to be one of America’s most successful mayors before stepping up to be a successful representative, during which time he passed so many bills he was given the nickname “the amendment king.” He backs up his words with decisive action, which few politicians, and people in general, do these days.

He inspires me to be a better person, and has been the first political candidate to get me active in the political process. He has not only taken my vote, but I have donated my time canvassing to make sure other people hear his message as well.

This democracy is for all of us, not just the one percent. We are the most powerful country in the history of the world, and we have great potential.

The media has a much different narrative. America is screwed financially, our American values are being violated, we need to end terrorism in the Middle East, the whole thing is going belly-up.

They say this while they unintentionally endorse candidates like Donald Trump, who would perpetuate the problems they report so well, by granting him excessive air time.

Bernie offers solutions that could radically change how America interacts with the rest of the world. We can be a champion of social justice. We can be a leader in green energy. We can create an economy in which anyone has the opportunity to get a college education and a decent paying job. We can reform the American education system from the inside out.

We can restore America to the shining pillar of the world it once was, and this man has the plan and integrity to execute it. He faces great odds, even if he were elected president, but not once has he wavered. He’s in it to win it, and will fight to the very last delegate, and there’s something inspiring about that that I can’t properly put into words.

He has created a movement that is bigger than himself, bigger than Trump and Clinton, bigger than all of us, and at the core is this man who has been fighting the good fight all his life. He was on the right side of nearly every disastrous decision our democracy has faced. He didn’t care who he was pleasing or what he was going to get out of it. He knew that it was simply the right thing to do. That’s an ideal I can live my life by.