Bernie Sanders and the attack on Wall Street

Democratic White House hopeful Bernie Sanders is already an unconventional candidate in regards to presidential campaigns. However, he has a reputation of integrity and trustworthiness. The theme of his campaign has been an attack on what he sees as the greed and recklessness of Wall Street and the wealthy who control American politics. He has called for aggressive campaign finance reform and he even devoted an hour-long speech on how he would reform Wall Street.

It's no doubt that the Sanders campaign knows they have the broad support from millennial voters. His opponents are lacking in this department. Even young women voters prefer Sanders over Hillary Clinton. His campaign has taken advantage of this by focusing their attention on free college tuition. This plan states that the tuition would be paid for through a tax on Wall Street speculation. He also advocates for equal pay for women, increased funding for Planned Parenthood, and paid family leave.

Since young people also use social media, Sanders has a large following on Twitter, Facebook, and other parts of the Internet like Reddit. These websites are pertinent to the Sanders campaign as they help mobilize his constituency and potential voters. There is a specific subreddit, which is devoted to getting Sanders elected president. They have donated over $1 million dollars to his campaign. Sanders has the donations of over 2.5 million individual contributions and received donations faster than any other candidate in history. He has also raised close to the amount of money as Clinton, but he is also spending more on ads in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Sanders released a "How to Caucus in Iowa" video because he knows that many people who are going to caucus for him will be first time voters. He draws thousands of people at his rallies and now he must translate that into voter turnout.

In a tweet to supporters Sanders said: "Democratic socialism means that in a democratic, civilized society the wealthiest people and largest corporations must pay their fair taxes."

Even though Sanders supports the expansion of social security and wants to implement a single-payer healthcare system, that would administer healthcare to all people, he has less support among older Democrats. To persuade all Americans to switch to his side, he has focused on portraying himself as an anti-war candidate, who is the only candidate who voted against the Iraq war. In a swipe at Republicans, he has said: "If you think it's too expensive to take care of veterans, don't send them to war."

He has drawn the support from working class people and from nurses unions. Sanders hopes that his support for a $15/hr minimum wage, his extensive climate change plan, and his focus on income inequality will be enough to draw in a variety of voters.

Sanders persuasive case comes from his message that money must get out of politics. That is why his campaign is the only one that has no super PAC and he has portrayed his opponent Hillary Clinton as part of the establishment. He has called her out for taking speaking fees from Goldman Sachs and someone who has close ties with Wall Street. Sanders even released an ad where he described two Democratic visions, one that is owned by Wall Street (referring to Clinton and other establishment politicians) and one that is owned by the people.

Clinton has not been able to shake off this critique and it lingers with her campaign. Sanders speaks out against the Supreme Court decision of Citizens United and against Wall Street frequently in his stump speeches and this is one of the reasons he has been appealing to Americans, who see the political system as rigged.