And The Crowd Went Wild

Vermont Senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was in Brattleboro, VT. yesterday for our annual “Strolling of the Heifers” parade. Sen Sanders walked in the parade, gave a short speech from the Gazebo on the Brattleboro Town Common, milked a cow, and then went to Keene, NH. for his first New Hampshire appearance as a presidential candidate.

It’s not surprising that Bernie was well received in Brattleboro. He’s been a supporter of the Stroll (AKA The Cow Parade), which celebrates family farmers, local food and rural life, since the first parade back in 2002. What was surprising was the reception Sen. Sanders got on the other side of the Connecticut River.

New Hampshire has been dominated by the Republican Party for generations and it is considered to be the most conservative state in the Northeast. But Sen. Sanders was greeted with a standing ovation from about 1000 Granite State residents. The Keene Recreational Center overflowed with people. Every seat was taken, the aisles were full, and the crowd spilled out into the parking lot to hear what the Democratic Socialist seeking the Democratic nomination for president had to say.

As Sanders spoke about the American economy the atmosphere took on an almost revival meeting quality; people nodded their heads in agreement and applauded as he called income inequality the great moral, economic, and political issue of our time.

“This type of economy is not only immoral; it is unsustainable,” he said. “In the last 30 years there has been a huge redistribution of wealth. Unfortunately, that redistribution has gone in the wrong direction. This type of rigged economy is not what our country is about,” Sanders said.

Sanders took direct aim at Citizen’s United telling the crowd that the Supreme Court decision corrupted our political system, undermined the foundations of democracy, and has allowed America’s 1% to own politics in addition to already owning the economy. “American democracy is not about billionaires being able to buy candidates and elections,” he said. If elected president he vowed to make overturning Citizen’s United a top priority of his administration.

But nothing will change without the support of the people, he cautioned the crowd. “You can have the best president in the history of the world, but that person will not be able to address the problems that we face unless there is a mass movement, a political revolution in this country,” Sanders said. “Right now, the only pieces of legislation that get to the floor of the House and Senate are sanctioned by big money, Wall Street, the pharmaceutical companies…The only way we win and transform America is when millions of people stand up as you’re doing today and say, ‘Enough is enough. This country belongs to all of us and not a handful of billionaires,’” he said.

Sen. Sanders outlined his policy platform that includes a livable wage, implementing a federal jobs program updating the country’s infrastructure, health care for all Americans, expanding social security, making education affordable for everyone, equal pay for women, and addressing climate change. “Our job, through a progressive agenda, is to bring our people together and to stop having people vote against their own best interests…Let me tell you a secret: We’re going to win New Hampshire,” he said. And the crowd went wild.

See the picture of Bernie milking the cow at: http://politicalmoll.com/and-the-crowd-went-wild/