Vice reporter Eve Peyser spent a weekend on the road with Bernie Sanders, and writes vividly and charmingly about the personal habits and behind-the-scenes homeliness of the famously non-materialistic, idealistic senator.
But where the story is most charged and vivid is when Peyser ruminates on how Sanders is able to reach out to people — even people who voted for Trump — to articulate a vision of a better America, not grounded in the white supremacist fantasy of the lost "greatness" that he alone can return us to, but a new world, built on solidarity, decency, fairness and mutual aid. It's a vision that cuts across party lines and speaks directly to the best in all of us.
During his Dayton speech, Sanders warned that in the coming months, Republicans might suggest cutting Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security in order to offset the billions and billions their tax bill would add to the national deficit. "One of their ideas is to raise the eligibility age for Social Security and Medicare," he said, prompting emphatic boos from two older people sitting a couple of rows in front of me.
"I could never understand, as the Koch brothers do, having $90, $100 billion and feel the need to lower their taxes," Sanders said in Dayton. "There is something weird and wrong about people who need more and more, and are willing to step over the elderly and the sick [to get it]."
In Akron, the crowd of 1,100 rose to their when Sanders proclaimed, "We have to guarantee healthcare to every man, woman and child in this country." Half of them began chanting "USA! USA! USA!" while others began a "Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!" chant.
I followed Bernie Sanders as he went to Ohio and explained to crowds how Democrats could win back Trump voters. [Eve Peyser/Vice]
(via Late Stage Capitalism)
(Image: Gage Skidmore, CC-BY-SA)
