Bernie Sanders urges Seattle progressives to stand up, fight back
Originally published November 30, 2016 at 9:40 pm Updated December 1, 2016 at 12:35 am
Former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., departs University Temple United Methodist Church after discussing his new book on Wednesday night in Seattle. (Erika Schultz / The Seattle Times)
Excerpt:
The U.S. senator from Vermont, who amassed crowds of die-hard fans here during his presidential campaign, addressed a group of more than 900 supporters in a University District church in a speech that analyzed Trump’s success, repeated Sanders’ campaign platforms and promoted the senator’s new book, “Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In.”
“Things are bad. Things have been worse in the past,” he told the crowd of Washington supporters, many of whom were looking for solutions to reconcile political differences. He called on them to “stand up, fight back in effective ways.”
In his remarks Wednesday, Sanders applauded Seattle’s path to a $15-an-hour minimum wage and the election of Pramila Jayapal in Washington’s 7th Congressional District as progressive milestones for the country. The senator, 75 — who is up for re-election to the Senate in 2018 and has not ruled out a 2020 run for president — most recently visited the Puget Sound region in October to campaign for her.
“You have so much to be proud of, and what you have done has been heard across the country,” Sanders said of Seattle. “Your job is to be leaders.”
The 450-page book, which was released exactly one week after the 2016 election with very few mentions of Trump, dishes out policy prescriptions that match the Brooklyn native’s presidential campaign, while also detailing his experience on the campaign trail.
The book rails against the political establishment, calling the nation’s political system, as well as the media, rigged by corporate interests. It also describes a declining middle class and repeats Sanders’ proposals to move the country’s health-care system to a federally administered, single-payer program and make public colleges and universities tuition-free by imposing a tax on Wall Street speculation.
Many Washington voters supported the underdog candidate before he even won a single caucus or primary. By early March, Seattle ranked No. 1 among the country’s 50 largest cities for per-capita contributions to Sanders’ campaign, according to a Seattle Times analysis.
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/bernie-sanders-urges-seattle-progressives-to-stand-up-fight-back/
