Full text of statement:

"It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them. First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and Black workers as well. While the Democratic leadership defend the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right.

Today, while the very rich are doing phenomenally well, 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and we have more income and wealth inequality than ever before. Unbelievably, real, inflation-accounted-for weekly wages for the average American worker are actually lower now than they were 50 years ago.

Today, despite an explosion in technology and worker productivity, many young people will have a worse standard of living than their parents. And many of them worry that Artificial Intelligence and robotics will make a bad situation even worse.

Today, despite spending far more per capita than other countries, we remain the only wealthy nation not to guarantee health care to all as a human right and we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. We, alone among major countries, cannot even guarantee paid family and medical leave.

Today, despite strong opposition from a majority or Americans, we continue to spend billions funding the extremist Netanyahu government’s all out war against the Palestinian people which has led to the horrific humanitarian disaster of mass malnutrition and the starvation of thousands of children.

While the big money interests and well paid consultants who control the Democratic Party learn any real lessons from this disastrous campaign? Will they understand the pain and political alienation that tens of millions of Americans are experiencing? Do they have any ideas as to how we can take on the increasingly powerful Oligarchy which has so much political power? Probably not.

In the coming weeks and months those of us concerned about grassroots democracy and economic justice need to have some very serious political discussions.

Stay tuned."

    • Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.net
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      9 days ago

      Was gonna say. Standing up for folks, yelling at the same empty room he’s been yelling at for 40 years. Dude is nothing if not consistent. If anything Bernie has moved to the right in the last 4 decades, and he’s still the left most politician we have

      • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
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        9 days ago

        Honestly kudos to the man for standing up for his beliefs in the face of overwhelming American stupidity for this long. I’d have definitely folded.

      • Rhaedas@fedia.io
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        9 days ago

        There’s C-Span videos online of him doing interviews before he became a US senator, and it’s interesting how the problems then are still relatable now. We’ve gotten better at kicking cans down roads and blaming each other instead of tackling the issues head on.

    • would_be_appreciated@lemmy.ml
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      9 days ago

      Too true. Listening to Sanders from the 80s is the same as listening to him today. It’s shocking how little his views and rhetoric have changed while being absolutely correct from the beginning.