Democratic Presidential candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders sat down with WKXL’s Chris Ryan and SNHU civic scholar Dean Spiliotes to talk about the state of his campaign of the state of education in the country. At this point, the Vermont senator is pleased with how his campaign has progressed. Last year Sanders was very low in the polls and with little or no financial support. Currently, he is doing well in the polls in Iowa and in first place in New Hampshire. His campaign events throughout the country are attracting large crowds. A record number of small contributions have filled his campaign coffers. One million average Americans have donated over $2 1/2 million. Senator Sanders hammers away at his core themes of the decline of the middle class, income inequality, campaign finance corruption, and climate change. He believes that despite his age his message resonates with younger voters. Sanders claims that these younger, idealistic voters sense a need for serious changes in our economy, action about the cost of student loans and college tuition, and the importance of addressing climate change. In general, he feels that his campaign has been successful because voters who care about these issues believe establishment politics will not solve these problems.
When he was asked about his main Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders insists that he won’t make negative attacks. He will highlight his differences on the issues, like support for the war in Iraq, approach to deal with ISIS, controlling Wall Street, and trade and the environment.
Bernie Sanders has several proposals to deal with problems in education. He favors free tuition for all public colleges and universities. Sanders would pay for this by raising taxes on Wall Street speculators. He feels that the middle class bailed them out, now it’s wall Street’s turn to bail out the middle class. Senator Sanders has also called for a reduction on the rates charged on student loans. On the subject of education in general, Sanders believes that we are not doing enough. He has never supported the No Child Left Behind legislation. He calls for more cooperation between the federal government and state and local government to deal with some serious conditions. He points out that half the students in the United States are on free and reduced lunch programs. Also, our country has one of the world’s highest rates of childhood poverty. The problem is made worse by a disparity of funding between wealthy suburban districts which can afford better schools and low income areas which can not provide for their students. That’s why Sanders maintains that the property tax is regressive and unfair. To bridge the gap between the rich and poor districts, Sanders would expand and improve Pre-K education programs.
Senator Sanders answered the question which usually is asked about his proposals. How are you going to pay for all of this??
> His plans for rebuilding our infrastructure–roads, bridges, etc.–would be financed by the tax breaks of the rich such as off shore accounts.
> Bernie Sanders believes that his spending plans would create millions of jobs in construction, education, and healthcare.
> His investing in alternate energy solutions to deal with climate change would also create more jobs.
> He would also renegotiate our trade deals with China and Mexico to bring back jobs which have been lost due to unfavorable trade policies.
> The seventy-four year old senator has also called for an expansion of Social Security benefits. This increased cost would be offset
by lifting the $250,000 cap on income.
People who make more than that amount would be paying more.
Senator Sanders described his run for the president as, “A crazy ride!” On the one hand, meeting so many great people and receiving so much support has been very gratifying. However, he has not been home as much as he would like and misses his family.
