Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has not shied away from his self-described Democratic Socialist views during this election, and in Sunday’s debate he stood by that moniker once again.
Sanders, who was an Independent in the Senate and registered as a Democrat in order to run for the presidency, criticized the party’s dependence on big donors instead of individuals. Under his philosophy, he wants to focus on all the states instead of those where it is politically expedient.
“We need a 50-state strategy so people in South Carolina and Mississippi can get the resources that they need,” he said. “Instead of being dependent on super [political action committees], what we need is to be dependent on small campaign contributors.”
Sanders has made his bones on the campaign trail by railing against billionaires who he describes as controlling the nation’s politicians. His stump speech usually includes attacks on the “billionaire class” that he says needs to be rooted out of politics in order for real change to occur.
That includes in the Democratic Party, he said.
“We need an agenda that speaks to the needs of low-income people, not wealthy campaign contributors,” he said.
Sanders pointed to his own campaign as a model. The campaign has racked up more than 2 million individual contributors, most donating small amounts of money. That’s the most individual campaign contributors in American history.
Sanders said his goal is to expand the amount of input that goes into the Democratic Party instead of focusing on the party elite.
“Nothing real will happen unless we have a political revolution and millions of people stand up,” he said.
