Bernie Sanders reflects on ‘It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism’
MADISON – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders didn’t pull his punches.
On Friday night, the independent from Vermont came to the Cap Times Idea Fest to talk up his book “It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism” with co-author John Nichols.
Hundreds of Sanders admirers packed the University of Wisconsin Memorial Union’s Shannon Hall to hear the democratic socialist critique corporate concentration in “sector after sector” including Wall Street and in the media, and declare that “in many ways our nation is becoming an oligarchic form of society.”
“The people who own America, the ruling class in this country, they are not nice guys,” Sanders said.
Sanders lamented what he called the “massive transfer of wealth” over the past half-century from the bottom 90% to the top 1%. Millions of people, he said are living paycheck to paycheck, struggling with a health care system that is “broken and dysfunctional.” No wonder many are angry, he added.
He said one of the reasons former President Donald Trump has been successful is that “he has picked up the reality that tens of millions of Americans feel hopeless about the future. They feel that nobody understands what they are going through. And Trump, who is a fraud and a liar and an imposter, has pretended that he gives a damn.”
Sanders, who vied for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020, didn’t let Democrats off the hook, either.
He declared “one of the weaknesses of the Democratic Party has been not only that they have not done enough for the working class of this country, is they refuse to acknowledge the reality and the pain that tens of millions of people are living through right now.”
During the 65-minute presentation, which included remarks and an interview, Sanders, 82, was reflective and relaxed, taking on big-picture issues that form the bedrock of his political philoso
phy and career.
So there was little talk about the current presidential race — he’s already backed President Joe Biden’s re-election. Biden.
He touched on the importance of the strike by the United Auto Workers against major U.S. carmakers and praised Biden for plans to join the picket line in Michigan on Tuesday.
He backed the UAW push for a shorter work week, 32 hours, while getting paid for 40.
“They understand that robotics and new technology is going to greatly increase worker productivity in the automobile industry,” Sanders said.
He drew the largest applause of the night when he talked about education and said, “just maybe, we might want to have as much respect for our teachers as we do for our football players.”
Near the end of the interview, Nichols, associate editor of the Capital Times, called Sanders an optimist, drawing laughter and then a round of applause.
Sanders replied that his wife, Jane, “would be very surprised to hear that. I’ll let her know you said that.”
He talked about his presidential runs, recalling how he drew inspiration from crowds he saw across the country, including Wisconsin, where he won the primary in 2016 over Hillary Clinton.
He focused on one evening in an agricultural area of California, where thousands came to hear him speak.
“You see beautiful young people who really want to create a nation based on humane values, based on economic, social, racial justice,” he said. “When you see that with your own eyes, when you touch it with your own hands it’s hard not to be inspired and to be optimistic about the future.”