Bernie Sanders to Graduates: ‘We Are Moving Radically and Rapidly’ Towards ‘Oligarchy’

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) warned graduates that the country is “moving radically and rapidly” towards “oligarchy” under President Trump.

“My greatest fear about the future of out country and in fact the world, is that we are moving radically and rapidly in the direction of oligarchy,” Sanders told graduates of Johnson State College in Vermont in a commencement speech.

“What oligarchy means is where you have a small number of very wealthy and powerful people who control not only the economy, not only the media, what you see hear and read, but also the political life of this nation,” Sanders said.

Sanders railed against the Trump Administration and Republicans for giving the rich tax breaks and criticized their positions on health care and climate change.

Meanwhile, he spoke of the need to fight against special interests, implement single-payer health care, and increase the minimum wage, telling graduates that the future of these issues is in their hands.

“Whether we are talking about the very survival of democracy, whether we are talking about economic justice, whether we’re talking about social justice, racial justice or global warming and the future of our entire planet, that future is in your hands. It is in the hands of your generation, not only in this country, but all over the world,” Sanders said.

“And I say to your generation, I beg of your generation, do not turn your backs on the struggles that are going on in this country today or around the world. And I say to you, if there was every a time in history for a generation to be bold and to think big, to stand up and to fight back, now is that time,” he added.

Sanders recently urged California Democrats to pass single-payer health care, but he’s taken some flack from Democrats after he criticized former Vice President Joe Biden for endorsing Tom Perez for Democratic National Committee Chair back in February.