Georgetown students have been lined up since 5:30 am to hear presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders deliver his much anticipated speech on what it means to be a Democratic Socialism in America.
Sanders will deliver remarks about his political philosophy at Georgetown University’s Institute of Politics and Public Service at 2pm Thursday. The line for the event begins inside Georgetown’s Gaston Hall and goes all the way outside where hundreds of students sit in the rain with the hope of nabbing a good seat for the speech.
The meaning of Sanders’ “democratic socialist” label has been discussed in length during this presidential election cycle. Sanders hopes to explain and pitch his controversial personal political philosophy to the American people with his speech.
But Georgetown student Ryan Sudo doesn’t think the label is controversial.
Sudo, who is a regional and comparative studies major, has been sitting outside in the rain since the early morning. He’s seated on the ground with an umbrella and an Apple Mac book where he’s finishing up his homework for his Chinese course.
Sudo told Breitbart News that he’s a fan of Sanders because “he doesn’t apologize for his opinions either.”
“He’s not afraid to say, ‘I am a Democratic Socialist and this is what I believe’ and i think people really admire that about him as well,” Sudo adds.
“I think its good that we’ve reached a point where a candidate can say they’re a socialist and not be some extreme fringe candidate.”
“And now a lot of people aren’t afraid to say ‘I identify with socialism.'”
Max Winebrenner, a Georgetown freshman studying Chinese, is at the very front of the line. He says he’s excited to hear Sanders talk about Democratic Socialism, which he says is popular among young Americans.
“For a lot of our parents, and older generations, they kind of always had politics as usual and never really considered major change like the kind that Bernie Sanders has. Shifting away from something like capitalism is a huge shift in the paradigm and its something that I think our generation is more willing to accept.”
“We’re willing to accept huge changes in what’s considered socially acceptable with things like homosexuality and transgender people. So I think this is another step– that we’re willing to accept other alternatives to capitalism.”
Seated beside him is Justin McCartney, a freshman studying foreign affairs, who is sitting on the ground with a laptop that bears a “Bernie Sanders” sticker. He tells me that he has never been involved in politics until Bernie Sanders launched a big for presidency.
“He’s much more of a social movement type of candidate. He’s changing American society not just American politics. “I feel like thats why he’s engaged people like me, and also people around the country, because he really does transcend politics.”
The event will be streamed live on Georgetown’s website and will feature a Q&A session with Georgetown students.
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