Report On Bernie Sanders Appearance In Aurora, IL - Aug 30, 2017
The venue was the Paramount Theater in Aurora, IL a western suburb of Chicago. The Paramount is a beautiful theater. Art Deco with the seating capacity of 1, 885 and the theater was filled to capacity – even the balcony. Bernie’s talk was sponsored by Anderson’s Bookshop, and independent book shop with three locations in the Chicago Area. Anderson’s holds events like this all the time – they have authors come and talk about their books. This was the first time I’ve ever attended one of their events. Bernie was introduced by a co-owner of the bookshop and came on at 7:10pm and spoke until 8:30pm - almost an 1 ½ hrs. Didn’t expect that – was extremely satisfied - I could have listened to him all night. Now there’s a guy I’d like to sit down and have a beer with. Earlier in the day he spoke to 900 high school students at Naperville High in a nearby suburb. The audience was a diverse looking group of people – young, old, male, female, white, black and brown – a real cross-section of America.
Bernie – I guess is on a book tour – and he was promoting his new book “Bernie Sanders Guide To Political Revolution”. It is a book he dedicated to the younger generation. In the preface to the book he said this: “I want to dedicate this book to the younger generation. You are, in many ways, the most progressive generation in the history of our country”. Essentially this is a more abbreviated version of his “Our Revolution” book. Much shorter and more concise. Double space sentences with plenty of neat illustrations that bring home his cogent points. I think he put this together in this manner to capture the attention span of our busy youth. He did say adults could read it too. All attendees of this event went home with a book.
The inside book jacket had this Bernie quote:
"If there was ever a time in history for a generation to BE BOLD and to THINK BIG, to STAND UP and to FIGHT BACK, NOW THAT TIME" - JOIN the POLITICAL REVOLUTION
As an aside – this is the second time I’ve seen Bernie live in the Chicago Area. The first was when he was a candidate for President. Quite a contrast. No Secret Service screenings and very little security – which was provided by the local Aurora Police Department. ‘
He started his comments – as you saw in the video posted in the OP here – with talking about Hurricane Harvey. He said that the silver lining in what we are seeing as the first responders and the people of Texas go into action that we are once again reminded of the best of America.
He went on to say that our job now was to stand together like we have never done before. He said that it was the American People that stood up and told the Repugs that you can’t take away our healthcare. And that’s what killed the Repugs attempt. And he said that we The American People need to stand up to the Repugs on all the coming stuff that they are going to pull on us like we did for healthcare. He made comments on the recent violent protests in Charlottesville. He commented on DACA. Commented on Trump’s transgender ban and said we need to stand with the TG’s. He talked about a living wage and $15/hr minimum wage. Commented on the states that have already initiated $15 and how business flourished.
During his talk he took quite a few jabs at Trump. He labeled Trump as a pathological liar and he said that more and more Americans are coming to the conclusion that the emperor has no clothes. That swipe got a lot of laughs and applause.
He said that we should “Ask the right questions”. He went on to say that when he is interviewed on TV – the interviewers ask leading questions to illicit the response that they want – then they say to him ‘why don’t you answer the question’. He tells them that they didn’t ask the right question. Issues they never discuss are that 6 people own more wealth than the bottom ½ of the people. Or that it would only cost us $30 billion to wipe out starvation and malnutrition and the countries of the world should be able to cobble that amount of money together amongst ourselves to do just that. Yet Trump is talking spending $80 billion on our military. He said that they have to ‘ask the right questions’ – but they don’t because of who owns the TV stations and the newspapers.
The content of his talk went along the table of contents for his book. I just scanning the book – I would say he touched on topics from each chapter. The chapters of his book are:
1. Guaranteeing A Livable Wage And A Decent Life
2. Real Tax Reform
3. Reforming Wall Street
4. Health Care For All (where he told us that in two weeks he will be introducing a Medicare For All Bill in the Senate for which he got a Standing ‘O’)
5. Making Higher Education Affordable
6. Combating Climate Change
7. We Need Real Policing & Criminal Justice Reform
8. Immigration Reform Now
As he took us through these topics it reminded me of his Primary Presidential Platform. In the book it says the top 10% of Americans own 76% of the wealth while the bottom 90% possess only the remaining 24%.
He commented on the biggest welfare queens in this country are the Walton family. They pay a low wage to their people and pocket the profits – while they leave it to us taxpayers foot the bill for food stamps, etc for their employees.
He talked of the rigged economy. He talked about the Koch Brothers. He said that people are dying of despair. They are becoming hooked on drugs and committing suicide because they just can’t cope with the pressures of the economy. This is where he called Trump a ‘pathological liar’. He said the guy spouted a lot of campaign rhetoric to get those people in despair help elect him. He said that Trump gains by dividing the people up. That what is needed is to develop an agenda that speaks to the needs of the working people.
60% of the people in this country believe that it is the responsibility of the Federal Government to guarantee healthcare. This is where he told us about the bill he will introduce – Medicare For All – hence the standing ‘O’.
He talked about our crumbling infrastructure and how spending $1 trillion seems like a lot of money but it would pay us back in jobs, increased production and benefit the welfare of the American People. It would be a boon to the economy and pay back in droves.
With respect to student loans he cited some examples of people he met on the campaign trail that had loans in excess of $300,000/$400,000. One man – he said was in his late 50’s and was paying more in loans now than earlier in his life. This man was worried that his Social Security would be garnished. He made the pitch for making public colleges and universities tuition-free. Another round of applause. I think we had a lot of students in the audience and a lot of teachers in the audience.
He spoke of the proposition in California that said that the people of California should be able to buy pharmaceuticals at the VA prices. He said that Big Pharma spent $130 million to defeat that proposition.
He spoke of 2,2 million Americans are in jail in the U.S. and that China which is much bigger and has more people has less people in jail. He said $80 billion is being spent in the U.S. for jails. And he went on to say – “Doesn’t it make more sense to use that money to educate our children.”
He commented on ‘Comprehensive Immigration Reform’ where people can work toward citizenship. He said it is idea that makes sense.
On Tax Reform he said that the rich should start paying their fair share. He posited – Why is Congress not moving – he said it’s because we have a corrupt political system controlled by a handful of billionaires.
Another big round of applause and standing ‘O’ when he said - “1 Person , 1 Vote”
He complimented Illinois for legislating “Automatic Voter Registration”. Needless to say he got rousing applause from this Illinois audience
He said ‘voter suppression’ is “totally un-American” and “totally disgusting”. He said if the a person thinks the only way he/she can win is by suppressing the vote then they don’t deserve to even run for office.
On Climate Change – he said that Trump is “dead wrong when he suggests that climate change is a hoax”. He went on to say that the future of energy is ‘sustainable energy’. Another round of applause.
In Conclusion – he said we are in a pivotal moment in history and that we have a moral responsibility to fight not only for ourselves but for our children and grandchildren.
One last funny he quipped – "I serve in the U.S. Senate and if you don’t think you know enough – say ‘hello’ to some of my colleagues."
Overall it was a rousing hour and a half. I know I walked out of the theater fired up and ready to go. What really gets me at my core is that what Bernie believes and says to me is just plain common sense. If only 'common sense' would rule America. If we only were able to have him at the helm instead of Trump – just think of what our country would be striving for and look like and would be.
I could tell that all that attended walk out of that theater fired up and ready to go as well. On the way out I saw a guy that was wearing a jersey that he designed himself – that on the front said. F**K T/P just like I typed it. A little cryptic but it stated his message. On the back where you would normally see a player’s name and number it had in bold letters. IMPEACH 45
One other observation - never once in his talk did he say 'Believe Me', 'Tremendous', or 'Great'. He didn't embellish anything. He told it to us like it is. He had notes to hit his high points - but the talk was an hour and a half of talking without a teleprompter and he actually made sense. Not double talk and lies like we hear from Trump.
Hope you enjoyed this synopsis of Bernie's visit to Aurora, IL as much as I enjoyed putting it together for you.
= new reply since forum marked as read
we have to a live-stream. 
It certainly deserves to be its own thread for k&r's. All the details make it easy to imagine being there. Bernie's the real deal, speaks from the heart, and continues to inspire. I appreciate you taking the time to share the event with us in such great detail. Thank you.
