In just under a year, Senator Bernie Sanders has gone from a political nobody to a serious contender for the Democratic Party’s nomination. This election has been full of surprises, to say the least. Each candidate seems to have hit a specific audience during the election. Clinton has gained support among the more moderate democrats while Trump has won the support of every pissed-off hillbilly in the nation. Sanders has gained an enormous following among my generation, especially across college campuses. For many millennials, Sanders is promising to rescue us from the mess that we’re inheriting from previous generations (Baby Boomers). While I support what Senator Sanders stands for, I feel that most of us need a serious reality check.
I am by no means opposed to anything that Sanders supports. In the most basic sense, he only wants to ensure that we all have the freedom that is promised to us by our citizenship. Everyone should be able to pursue an education if they want it. No one should die because they cannot afford medical treatment and they should not live below the poverty line while working forty hours per week. Sanders’ brand of democratic socialism seems to be the easiest way to achieve these notions, at least in theory.
A vote for Sanders is not a vote for any of these things. Even if he is elected, he will face immense resistance from a Republican-controlled Congress and he will have more than a few hurdles even when working with his fellow Democrats. His campaign promises will likely not be achieved in four years or even eight. When you vote for Sanders, you are voting for the precedence that will one day lead to these changes. Bernie is not the end to all of our woes. He is the beginning of the solution.
Unless more Democratic Socialists come out of the woodwork, Sanders will have a lot of opposition from Congress. If Congress stays in the hands of the Republicans, they will fight him on almost every issue. Take the recent debacle with the late Justice Scalia for example. The mere idea of President Obama appointing a justice has sent every Republican and Conservative into a frenzy. How dare they allow a Democrat to do his job? Sanders is far more liberal than Obama, so I can only imagine how severe his critics will be should he be elected.
I am not discouraging people from #feelingtheBern. In fact, I feel that this is even more of a reason to elect Sanders. We need to show our government what its citizens want and need from it. There is no better symbol of these ideas than Senator Sanders. As the election cycle moves forward, we need to remember that Sanders does not represent a means to an end, but a new era of political reform, an era that will hopefully lead to a new age of American prosperity.
