Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders told those assembled in the Harrisburg Hilton for the PA Progressive Summit that he was going to do something different in his speech.
“Tell the truth,” he said.
The fiery progressive and potential 2016 presidential candidate gave a popular and impassioned performance.
Entering to Tom Petty’s “Won’t Back Down”, Sanders focused his fire on the Koch Brothers and the problem of income inequality in America.
“The Supreme Court’s decision on Citizens United, will go down in history as one of the worst decisions ever made by the Supreme Court,” Vermont’s junior Senator said, pointing to the influence of Charles and David Koch.
“The Koch Brothers alone are worth $85 billion,” Sanders warned. “Their resources are literally unlimited.” He went on to call them “counter-revolutionaries that have an extreme right-wing agenda.”
“Bad decisions by human beings can be replaced by good decisions by human beings.”
The Senator then transitioned to listing some troubling economic statistics: a real unemployment rate of 11.5%, 18% youth unemployment, 30% black youth unemployment, 45 million in poverty and 40 million uninsured.
“Nobody should be satisfied today with where we are in America concerning our economy,” he asserted.
“People are angry, I’ll tell you why they’re angry,” Sanders said. “The people on top have literally never had it so good.” The Senator then proceed through a number of statistics on recent economic trends:
-“Since 1999, median family income has gone done by almost $5,000”
-“0.1% owns more wealth than the bottom 90%. The Walton Family owns more than the bottom 40% of American people.”
-“Since the economic crash, 99% of all new income generated goes to the top 1%.”
Sen. Sanders then delivered the central message of this address.
“Income inequality is the major moral issue, major economic issue, major political issue of our time,” the Senator proclaimed.
Sanders also took the time to read from the 1980 Libertarian Party platform (VP nominee David Koch) and claim that it now represents the agenda of the Republican party.
Summing up billionaires, Sanders claimed “their religion is greed! They’re addicted to money!”
He also told the assembled crowd, who enthusiastically received his speech, “You are the job-creators! The working families of America are the job creators.”
“Bad decisions by human beings can be replaced by good decisions by human beings,” the Senator said at one point, illustrating his political philosophy.
Of course, the central question for all the political watchers is whether Sanders will challenge Hillary Clinton from the left in the upcoming 2016 Democratic presidential primary. The Vermont Senator has been tight-lipped about his plans but he may have tipped his hand a little.
At one point, he joked that the Koch Brothers would be financing his campaign, but he didn’t mention which campaign that was.
Loading ...
7 Responses
@ jmarshak
Love these continuous conservative apple & orange comparisons. The article you posted lists six unions (all in top 10) that contribute more than the Kochs – 15 times as much! First that is 15 times as much as the COMBINED total for the 6 unions.
More important is that those unions are comprised of millions of combined members (estimated figures below). The largest contributing union – AFSME with over $60 million in contributions – gives about $44/member. NEA gives only about $18/member. Compare that to $18 million from 2 Koch Bros at $9 MILLION/member. So… who’s giving more here?
Unions themselves also don’t have the opportunity to give “soft” money in our post Citizen’s United campaign finance world. Who knows how much the Koch’s contribute through these entities, but think safe to assume it is at least a good bit.
And, what best interest are each lobbying for? The Kochs for themselves and a VERY small percentage of citizens of this country. Unions? Their particular issues that are trade specific, but also mostly for ALL workers (or at least those who aren’t scabs).
Surely anyone – no matter how far their head is up their own butt – can see the HUGE differences. Apples and oranges is actually calling this comparison closer than it really is.
Contribution figures as provided in Conservative Rag The Washington Sentinel, and union memberships found on Wikipedia. Figures are active members only and do not include the combined millions of retirees from each union.
AFSCME – $60.6 M – about 1.4 M members
NEA – $53.5 M – about 3 M members
IBEW – $44.4 M – about 660,000 members
UAW – $41.6 M – about 400,000 members
SEIU – $38.3 M – about 1.9 M members (all of N. Amer.)
Koch Bros. – $18 M (reported) – 2…. YES 2!! members
Jmarshak. That is in regards to contributions to candidates. In the post-citizens united era the Koch brothers are the biggest givers. Reportedly raising $290 million in ’14. Thats more than the Service Employees International Union’s (number one on your lists) 15 year total.
http://www.indystar.com/story/news/2015/01/26/koch-brothers-2016-budget/22368987/
Until we have transparency in campaign finance, no one knows how much the Kochs give to the Republican cause. We do know for sure that whatever is reported publicly is the tip of the iceberg. Does anyone know whether the Kochs are fingered in the Swiss bank scandal? I’ll be amazed if they aren’t dodging taxes so that the rest of us have to pay more. It’s the Burger King mentality — take as much as you can and give back as little as you can.
The love of money is the root of all evil, and no one loves money more than conservatives.
@New_Liberal_Lion
And you just demonstrated exactly why I don’t want you or anybody who thinks like you in power.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/it-turns-out-the-evil-koch-bros.-are-only-the-59th-biggest-donors-in-american-politics.-can-you-guess-who-is-number-one/article/2544025
I was honored to have presented at this year’s summit, which for the first time ever sold out the Harrisburg Hilton. Here is my full narrative, from which I spoke for about 15 minutes during our fine group’s presentation:
“WHAT’S OUR EXCUSE? – Political Barriers to a Low Carbon Energy Conversion”
https://steventodd.wordpress.com/2015/01/19/2015-pa-progressive-summit-in-harrisburg/
Steve Todd, PE, LEED AP
Precinct 12 Derry Township, Dauphin County Committee Member
Do those 18 labor unions have upwards of $800 million dollars or more like the Kochs do?
You misinformed backwoods hillbillies always show why you don’t belong in the voting booth.
There are 18 labor unions in this country that EACH give more money to Democrats than the Koch brothers give to Republicans. Why doesn’t Sanders ever complain about that?