And here's why Bernie is the best candidate to take the White House in 2016.
Democrats feel the Bern...
Why would anyone choose Sanders over Clinton? I suppose consistency is one reason - he's not changed his positions on basic issues of justice and fairness in 40 years. Yes, he was there for civil rights in the 60's, protesting, getting arrested, working to change the system. Same with feminism, gay rights, immigrants, etc. Our current call to reign in excess corporate power? Yup, Sanders in the 60's.
Integrity is another. Sanders HAS NO SCANDALS attached to him. Even his opponents agree that he is a rock, even if they don't like the shape of that rock. That whole socialist thing? It's a label he wears proudly, although it may not mean what some think it means.
He supports the average voter instead of giving special access to the wealthy. Don't believe it? Why does he have the highest support ratings of anyone in congress, with the lowest negative ratings? The voters he serves like him!
He has no enemies. Clinton has made many - the entire Republican party. Sorry, but it's true. Many hate her enough that they have pledged to begin impeachment proceedings immediately on election. Sanders is a true independent, and has worked across the aisle both ways.
He brings with him a surge of young voters looking for change and hope they saw in insufficient quantity 8 years ago. Make no mistake - Sanders campaign is not with Democrats, but they benefit from it. Millions who are sick of politics as usual, watching the leaders suck up to any old corruption as long as they can get donations, ignoring what voters want. These voters come because of his message of change, and will stay to make that change, and make it stick. Not so bad for the Democratic party as it's all stuff the party wanted, but didn't have the political muscle to pull off. With these new voters they will.
Judgement. Anyone can make a mistake, but Sanders has been on the right side of many important issues. And let's face it, Clinton has been pulled left as a result of the Sanders campaign. So it really boils down to a single question: Do you vote for the real deal, or the one adapting a position to win power?
Long before Bernie Sanders, there was Eugene Debs. He was a longtime socialist and union organizer, and five-time candidate for president. At his electoral high tide in 1912, he got nearly 6 percent of the presidential vote, by far the best any socialist has ever done in national politics. That is, until now.
Bernie Sanders, though he does not subscribe to the more traditional socialist views of Debs, still calls himself a socialist, and got within spitting distance of capturing the nomination of one of America's two parties. That is beyond question the electoral high water mark for an American socialist — at least for now. Why?
As people are continually rediscovering, Sanders gets most of his support from young people, across race and gender. Indeed, though a spectacular volume of punditry has focused on Sanders' lack of support among African-Americans, a recent Gallup survey found that black millennials (defined as being from age 20 to 36) give Sanders higher marks than whites or Latinos, at 67 percent approval. Hillary Clinton is not so popular, particularly among whites:
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