BY SAM MASLING, JUNIOR EDITOR

I want Bernie Sanders to be my president. When Sanders declared his intention to run for president on April 30, the thought of him winning seemed ludicrous. While he certainly had supporters, his legitimacy as a candidate was laughable. The general consensus, even among supporters, was that the Jewish self-proclaimed socialist had no real chance of winning the Democratic nomination, much less the actual election. But that was before his campaign started picking up steam.  

Preaching economic equality and affordable higher education, Sanders immediately connected with a lot of younger voters for whom those issues are high-priority. And since Sanders’ campaign has been heavily focused on his liberal views about social issues such as income inequality, women’s reproductive rights, and LGBT issues, he has struck a chord with people tired of social conservatism.

Sanders has especially captivated the attention of America’s youth for a couple of reasons.  First of all, to be honest, many of us are tired of Hilary. She’s been on the election scene since she ran back in 2008, and even though she lost that Democratic nomination to President Barack Obama, some argue she’s been campaigning for 2016 ever since.

Sanders, on the other hand, was relatively unknown outside of his home state of Vermont before he declared his campaign, and has brought a fresh face to the Democratic party. His call for affordable high education has especially resonated with students struggling to pay for college, as well as with graduates trying to pay off student loans.

But it isn’t just the younger generation that is a fan of Sanders. Throughout his entire political career, Sanders has supported Social Security and other benefits programs for retirees, and his adamant resolve towards keeping those programs has gained him favor with the huge portion of older Americans relying on Social Security to stay afloat.

Of course, there are concerns about Sanders’ campaign, even among supporters. Many argue that his policies and social ideas are too liberal to get passed by our current Congress, and it is a well-known fact among lawmakers that Sanders is extremely stubborn and doesn’t budge when he wants to pass a bill. People who don’t support him would say that these characteristics make him a poor candidate for president.

Sixteen years ago, a similar candidate to Sanders began making his voice heard. Ralph Nader, the Green Party presidential nominee, was the crazy left-winger who wasn’t all that crazy. Sanders and Nader, both politicians from the far left, followed similar paths to presidential legitimacy.

For starters, both self-proclaimed themselves as belonging to political parties that have never even come close to being president. Sanders declared himself a Democratic socialist and Nader belonged to the Green Party. This left both of them with an earlier deficit because no one thought of them as a real threat. Then they began to effectively campaign for their very liberal agendas, and the public began to notice.  Both had strong ideas about environmental protection, connecting them with a small and vocal part of the population, and both connected very well with the the liberal younger generation. Like Nader, Sanders has connected with a very specific but significant part of population, and continues to gain support.

However, unlike Nader, Sanders has already spoken specifically against running as a third party candidate if he doesn’t win the nomination, meaning it is likely that all of Sanders’ supporters will vote for the Democratic nominee in the election if Sanders doesn’t win the primaries.

That last point, I think, is the biggest reason Bernie Sanders has become such a sensation overnight. He represents one of the few far-left politicians who has made a strong case for President, but is still running as a Democrat. Unlike the current Republican party, moderate liberals and extreme liberals don’t really identify with one another as Democrats, and in the past have supported different candidates in elections. But with Bernie Sanders officially running solely as a Democrat, with no intention of a third party bid, he has paved the way for the cohesion of the Democratic Party in future elections.

While Sanders won’t win the 2016 election, he has started discussions worldwide and will continue to broadcast meaningful ideas publicly that will hopefully lead to real, significant change. Sanders is the perfect guy to do this because he doesn’t back down from something he cares about. He’ll be able to create change in this country wherever he goes and has extremely progressive ideas that would make the United States a better place to live in. Even though the odds of him winning the presidency are low, his campaign has been a success in getting his message out, and I can confidently say that I want Bernie Sanders to be my president.

Photo courtesy of Peter Stevens