OWH: Income inequality issues the focus of Bernie Sanders' unlikely run for president
http://www.omaha.com/news/politics/meet-the-candidates-income-inequality-issues-the-focus-of-bernie/article_6d600ff2-55df-11e5-a838-6fd08be2748b.html
POSTED: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2015 12:00 AM | UPDATED: 12:57 AM, TUE SEP 8, 2015.
By Robynn Tysver / World-Herald staff writer
GRINNELL, Iowa Bernie Sanders doesnt try to warm up the crowd with a canned political joke, and he doesnt try to move listeners with a touching story about his grandparents struggles to achieve the American Dream.
The U.S. senator from Vermont also doesnt try to convince anyone hes running for the Democratic nomination for president because hes worried about his childrens future.
Sanders, the unlikely political star with the wild-professor hair, takes the stage and quickly pivots to the economic justice issue that has consumed his entire adult lifetime: his belief that greedy corporations and lobbyist-loving billionaires control this country and that the nations middle class is slowly disappearing as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
Today we live in the wealthiest nation in the history of the world, but most Americans dont know that because all of the wealth and income is going to the people on top, said Sanders, who dishes up a speech loaded with statistics and policy positions and short on political red meat.
FULL story at link.
Insights into Bernie Sanders
Brooklyn youth
Sanders might be from Vermont, but his accent is pure New York. He grew up in Brooklyn, the son of a Polish immigrant who was a paint salesman. His mother died at age 46, after a heart operation. Sanders later attended Brooklyn College for about a year before graduating from the University of Chicago with a degree in political science in 1964.
Brotherly love
Sanders brother, Larry, was also a candidate this year, but in a different country. Larry Sanders ran for Parliament in Great Britain on the Green ticket. He did not win. He has lived in that country since 1969, working as an attorney and social worker.
Peace, brother
During the Vietnam War, Sanders applied as a conscientious objector, hoping not to go to war. His application was denied, but by that time, Sanders was too old to be drafted. He went on to become an active opponent of the Vietnam War. His campaign has said that he was a pacifist at the time but that he no longer is.