Senator Bernie Sanders is urging the Democratic Party to take responsibility for losing touch with working-class voters. He argues that the party’s failure to address economic issues has led to a decline in support from this key group. “The working people of this country are extremely angry.
They have a right to be angry,” Sanders said. “You got an economy today doing phenomenally well for the people on top. It is not working for the working class.
All right? How do we address those issues?”
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi disputed Sanders’s claims in an interview with The New York Times. “I don’t respect him saying that the Democrat Party has abandoned the working-class families,” Pelosi remarked.
Sanders is concerned that Democrats have not passed key laws to help workers, such as raising wages and improving Social Security benefits. “In the Senate, in the last few years, we have not even brought forth legislation to raise the minimum wage to a living wage, despite the fact that some 20 million people in this country are working for less than $15 an hour,” Sanders said.
Sanders on Democrats’ focus shift
He also noted that former President Donald Trump connected more with voters feeling economic stress, even if he gave questionable reasons for their problems. “What Trump did in this election is to say, ‘I know that you’re hurting and the reason is you’ve got millions of people coming across the border illegally. They’re eating your jobs,'” Sanders said.
Sanders believes the Democrats need to explain that corporate greed and the power of the billionaire class are the real issues. “I know that’s uncomfortable for people in the Democratic Party, but that is the issue we have to address,” he said. The senator defended his criticism of the Democratic Party, saying the needs of the working class are not being met.
He outlined several issues with the Senate, such as failing to pass laws to make it easier to join unions, address pension plans, or increase Social Security benefits. “Bottom line, if you’re a working person out there, do you really think that the Democratic Party is going to the max, taking on powerful special interests and fighting for you? I think the overwhelming answer is no,” Sanders said.
He stressed the growing economic inequality and called for major campaign finance reforms to stop billionaires from influencing elections. Sanders concluded with a call for an agenda that supports the working class and gets big money out of politics.
