BY COLE WHITE AND HANNAH BROADBENT | The Statesman
Senator Bernie Sanders was greeted in Duluth today with enthusiastic “whoo-hoos” for a campaign rally at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (DECC).
“What a turnout, wow!” Sanders said as he took the podium. The event was attended by approximately 6,000 people, according to DECC associate executive director Chelly Townsend.
The crowd was immediately reminded about the Minnesota Caucus, which is March 1--the date Sanders claimed the crowd will “take back our country.”
Sanders began by speaking to the grassroots foundation of his campaign, mentioning the 2.5 million individual campaign donors who donated an average of $27. This makes the Sanders campaign one with the largest individual campaign donation in the history of the United States.
“We do not represent the billionaire class,” Sanders said. “We do not want their money.”
Sanders speech covered many campaign platforms, including income inequality, student debt, institutionalized racism, criminal justice reform, universal health care and gender equality.
Sanders told the crowd stories from the campaign trail of individuals struggling to live on low wages, and pledged to raise the federal minimum wage to $15.
The heaviest focus of the event was placed on what Sanders described as the “greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street,” calling the people on Wall Street “Banksters.” He proposed that all public colleges and universities should be tuition free, paid for by a tax on Wall Street speculation.
“It’s Wall Street’s time to help the middle class,” Sanders said, referring to government bailouts received by the large banks.
Sanders used the Wall Street issue to address criminal justice reform, stating that it is unacceptable that a kid caught with marijuana will have a criminal record while no bankers have been prosecuted for the financial collapse of 2008.
“We need to rethink the war on drugs,” Sanders said. He went on to say he would remove marijuana from the federal list of Schedule I controlled substances.
Sanders went on to attack the Republicans’ ideas of “family values.” The loudest applause came from his mentioning the gender pay gap. Additionally, he attacked their perceived value of women, saying that “They (republicans) think no woman should have a right to control her own body.” He countered the Republicans’ plans to defund Planned Parenthood with his plan to expand funding to the women’s resource center.
“America is the only country that doesn’t have paid family medical leave,” Sanders said. He plans to pass legislation for three month maternity leave.
Sanders is positive that all these things can become a reality, saying Republicans only win when there is a low voter turnout. Last midterm election, 64 percent of Americans didn’t vote and 83 percent of young people abstained as well.
“(We’re) dealing with real issues impacting the American people,” Sanders said. “We need to get working people to the polls, and young people involved in politics.”