Hundreds of students and Charlottesville community members gathered outside the Miller Center Monday for a taping of American Forum with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
Sanders, currently running for the Democratic nomination for the 2016 presidential election, addressed questions from American Forum Host Doug Blackmon on his policy views. He spoke many times on his hope for a “political revolution.”
No president or presidential candidate can address the problems facing America today without significant changes in people’s attitude toward the political process, and changes in the political process itself, Sanders said.
“When I talk about my agenda…what I say is we need tens of millions of people to be involved in the political process in a way that has not happened before,” Sanders said.
Sanders said that although his stance on current issues is strongly supported by the American people, a lack of participation and an oppositional representation in the Senate prevents change from taking place.
In the 2012 presidential election, 63 percent of all those eligible and 80 percent of “young people” did not vote, Sanders said.
“What we need right now is to re-establish people’s faith in government and the only way we can do that is when we have leadership prepared to tell the truth about what’s happening,” Sanders said.
Many attendees seemed to echo Sanders’ hope for increased political involvement. Third-year College student Emily Sakowitz said she was excited to be a part of the political process now, and will be old enough to vote in a presidential election for the first time in 2016.
“Bernie Sanders is particularly interesting because of how he has excited a group that is typically apathetic about politics,” Sakowitz said. “We’re excited about him.”
Blackmon noted the enthusiasm Sanders has created through discussing issues which are important to a range of constituents.
“He has identified a lot of issues in American life that clearly a lot of people share a lot of concerns about — income inequality, mass incarceration, social issues around race — and all of the things that are most troubling to people in American life right now,” Blackmon said.
Sanders highlihgted the rates of African-American youth unemployment and underemployment for high school graduates — which stands at 51 percent — and the rate of male African-American high school dropouts who end up in jail — which stands at 69 percent.
“That is a national disgrace,” Sanders said. “We should be investing in education and jobs rather than jail and incarceration.”
Sanders also noted the lack of diversity in American government in conjunction with governmental ties to big business.
“Unlike many Democratic and Republican former presidents, it is not my intention to be hiring former Wall Street CEOs into positions in my administration,” Sanders said. “I want my top administrators in my cabinet to look like America. We need the diversity of America at the top levels of government.”
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