OWH: Income inequality issues the focus of Bernie Sanders' unlikely run for president

[Omaha Steve]

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 doesn’t try to warm up the crowd with a canned political joke, and he doesn’t try to move listeners with a touching story about his grandparents’ struggles to achieve the American Dream.

The U.S. senator from Vermont also doesn’t try to convince anyone he’s running for the Democratic nomination for president because he’s worried about his children’s 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 nation’s 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 don’t 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.

[sabrina 1]

1. I think that's what people like most about him, he stays so focused on the issues, he doesn't waste

time on trivia but gets right to the point. And he never strays from what that point is.

[SonderWoman]

2. Are we the wealthiest nation in the history of the world?

[msongs]

3. on a per capita basis I suspect that would be the Vatican and it's obscene wealth extracted from the

the world's poorest people