As precincts indicated a virtual tie with Hillary Clinton in the Iowa Caucus, Sen. Bernie Sanders, a socialist who represents the state of Vermont, championed hard-left ideals during his midnight address to supporters.
“What Iowa started” is a “political revolution,” Sanders said in his address, calling for the overthrow of the “billionaire” class in America and for the nation’s wealth to be forcibly redistributed from the “Wall Street speculators” and “1 percent” to help pay for free college.
“I believe that in the year 2016, public colleges and universities should be tuition free,” Sanders told his supporters. “My critics say, ‘Well Bernie, that’s a great idea. All this free stuff. How you gonna pay for it?’ I will tell you how we’re gonna pay for it. We’re gonna impose a tax on Wall Street speculation,” he added.
The socialist Senator then declared that “the debate is over” when it comes to “climate change.”
“I have talked to scientists all over the world. Climate change is real. And we have a moral responsibility to work with countries throughout the world to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy,” Sanders stated.
“What amazes me is that we have not one Republican candidate for President prepared to come up and tell us and agree with us, and virtually all scientists agree,” he added.
Sanders said that Republicans are against climate change because coming out in favor of it would cause them to lose campaign contributions from the “Koch brothers and the fossil fuel industry.”
“So I say to the Republicans: stop worrying about your campaign funds from big oil, or the Koch brothers, or the coal industry, worry about the planet you’re gonna be leaving your children and grandchildren,” Sanders demanded.
On healthcare, the Vermont Senator said he believed healthcare to be “a right.”
“For all of my critics out there in the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, and in corporate America, wherever you may be. Let me tell you straight up: Yes, I believe that healthcare is a right, not a privilege,” he stated, pushing for a single-payer, taxpayer-funded healthcare system.