Democratic Socialist presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is closer to succeeding in his “political revolution” on America’s capitalist and free markets system, having finished in a virtual tie with fellow Democratic contender Hillary Clinton.
“So are you guys ready for a radical idea?” he said to a roaring applause. “And so is America. And that radical idea is, we are going to create an economy that works for working families, not just the billionaire class.”
Sanders said “the people of Iowa have sent a very profound message to the political establishment, to the economic establishment and, by the way, to the media establishment. And that is given the enormous crises our country is facing, it is just too late for establishment politics and establishment economics.”
He ripped America’s campaign process saying progressives, conservatives and moderates alike have told him that “we can no longer continue to have a corrupt campaign finance system” and lauded himself as being the “only candidate on the Democratic side without a super PAC.”
Praising America’s veterans for their service to this country, he evolved their roles as protectors of America’s national security into semi revolutionaries against America’s current political system suggesting male and female vets who served in the military were protecting “an American democracy of one person, one vote. Not billionaires buying elections.”
The reason that we have done so well in Iowa, the reason is the American people are saying no to a rigged economy, [is] they no longer want to see an economy where the average American works longer hours for lower wages when almost all new income and wealth is going to the top one percent.
Sanders said it was unfair that America’s top one percent “owns as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent… It is not fair when the 20 wealthiest people in this country own more wealth than the bottom half of America.”
Taking aim at Wall Street’s “endless supply,” Sanders again attacked capitalism suggesting it is “the greed and illegal behavior of Wall Street that drove America’s “economy to its knees. The American people bailed out Wall Street. Now it’s Wall Street’s time to help the middle class.”
Invoking America to join him on his quest to dismantle the current system, Sanders said “Corporate America with their large campaign donors are so powerful that no president can do what has to be done alone. And that is why what Iowa has begun tonight is a political revolution.”
During his victory speech, Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) took indirect aim at Sanders saying “the problem with socialism is, eventually you run out of other peoples’ money.” Sanders addressed that during his victory lap speech saying Wall Street would pay for all the “free stuff”, including free community college, he has continuously promised to the American people.
“I will tell you how we’re going to pay for it: We are going to impose a tax on Wall Street speculation.”
Follow Adelle Nazarian on Twitter @AdelleNaz.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.