Bernie Sanders, Seattle, Aug 8, 2015

(cheering)

(lots of cheering)

Thank you!

Whoa! Whoa! Unbelievable!

Brothers and Sisters what a turn out, thank you so much for being here

It- it doesn't seem true but we began this campagin

About 3 1/2 months ago.

And the momentum has been UNBELIEVABLE.

We have had- we have had HUGE turnouts

In Burlington, Vermont

in Denver, in Minneapolis, in Madison

in Pheonix, in Portland, Maine and New Orleans

But I wanna tell you something tonight

We got 12,000 people here, 3,000-

(cut to cheering/hooting people)

(screaming)

And a few minutes ago I just said hello

to 3,000 people outside!

So thank you!

(cheer)

you know, the media asks me

they say "well, what's going on?"

"why do so many people- come out"

"Why do you have more individual that are paying

contributors than any other campaign?"

(cheering)

Why, last week, did we have 3,700

organizational meetings

all across this country!?

100,000 people!

And the answer is pretty simple.

The answer for why people
are rising up is that

all across this country
people are sick

and tired of establishment politics,
establishment ecomics

and they want, real, CHANGE.

(applause)

People of America understand that
corporate greed

is destroying our country

that American politics is now
dominated

by big money interests
and that much of the

maintstream media
is prepared to talk about everything

except that is- what is
most important.

(cut to applause)

The other point that I wanna make
in opening is to tell you

that this campaign differs from any other campaign

because I will be very honest with you and
tell you what few tell you.

And that is no president can do it alone

no one person in the white house
Can take on Wall Street

Corporate America.

We NEED to do it together
we NEED a grassroots

political movement from the
west to the east, which tells

the big money interest
"This country, our government

belongs to all of us, not just
a handfull."

(cheering)

Let me just say a brief word now
cause you've heard a lot

from the people who came before me
About institutional racism

and criminal justice reform
and let me be very brief

and say this.

As somebody who has one of the
strongest lifetime civil rights records

in the United States Congress
no- no president-

no president will fight HARDER
to end the stain of racism in this country

and reform our criminal justice system, period!

Brothers and sisters, today we are living
in the wealthiest country in the history

of the world! But almost nobody
knows that

because almost all of the wealth
rests in the hands

of the few!

(Feminine voice, faint: "Yeah, Burnie!" / cheering)

The United States now has more
income and wealth inequality

than any major country on Earth
and it is worse today

than in any time since 1928.

(collective boo)

The issue of wealth and income inequality
is the great moral issue of our time

it is the great political issue of our time
it is the great economic issue

of our time, and together
WE WILL address it.

(cut to cheering)

There is something profoundly wrong

when the top 1/10 of 1% owns almost as much wealth

as the bottom 90%. (booing)

There is something profoundly wrong

when 58% of all new income goes to the top 1%

There is something profoundly wrong

when we have seen in recent year.
A proliferation of millionaires and billionaires

while the average American works longer hours
for lower wages

and we have the highest rate of childhood
poverty of any major country

THAT is wrong, that is is unacceptable, that will CHANGE!

We need an economy that works for working families
and the middle class

not just a handful of billionaires.

This campaign is sending a message
to the billionaire class.

And that message is simple and straightforward
(masc. voice, faint "Go Bernie!")

"You cannot have it all!"

"You cannot get HUGE tax breaks
when children in America go hungry."

"You cannot continue to send our jobs abroad
when millions of Americans are in desperate need of work right here."

"You cannot hide your profits in the Cayman Islands
and Bermuda, you WILL PAY

your fair share of taxes!"

The billionaire class cannot take advantage
of all the benefits of America

if they do not accept their responsibilities
as Americans.

But the economic crisis that we face
is not just the grotesque

level of income in wealth inequality
we've got to be honest

and understand that for the last 40 years
the great middle class of this nation

was the envy of the entire world.
That great middle class is disappearing.

Despite exploding technology and
increased worker productivity,

median family income is almost
5,000$ less today than it was in 1999.

(boo)

In my state of Vermont, in your state
of Washington, people are working

not one job, they're working 2 jobs
they're working 3 jobs

trying to cobble together some income
and some healthcare

that is not an American economy,
we can and must do

much better than that.

(Whoooo)

And when we talk about the economy
and what's happening to working families

it is important for you to understand,
that real unemployment is not

the 5.3% which the newspapers report,
that's 'official' unemployment.

REAL unemployment includes those people
who have given up looking for work

and the millions of people who are working
part time when they wanna work full time.

When you add THAT together, real unemployment
in Amer'ca is almost 10.5%

(boos)

And here is something else-
that almost nobody discusses

but it is a huge huge issue-
it's yknow one of the fun things

about running for president is
you can raise issues that other people

choose not to talk about.

And let me talk about one issue.

And that is that today we have a

horrendous tragedy. In terms of youth
unemployment in America.

Last month, last month I asked the
economic policy institute

to do a study for us. And what they found
is that for kids

who graduated high school between the age
of 17 and 20

if they were white, real unemployment and
underemployment was 33%.

If they were Hispanic, real unemployment was 36%

If they were African American, real unemployment is 51%!

(booing)

Now there is no excuse for the
United States of America

having more people in jail than
any other country on Earth,

more than China!

This is a failure of our criminal
justice system

a failure of our educational system
and a failure of our economy

but I will tell you this-
it make more sense to me

to be investing in jobs and education for our kids
than in jails and incarceration.

(cheering)

I- I do not want the United States
to continue to have the ugly distinction

of having more people in jail.

I want the United States to have
the proud distinction of having

the best educated population
on Earth.

Too many lives! Too many lives
have been destroyed by this

so-called war on drugs.

Too many lives have been destroyed
by incarceration.

We need to educate, we need
to put people to work.

And when we talk about the economy
it is also important to put on the table

that tens of millions of our people are
working today at totally inadequate low wages.

The current federal minimum wage
of $7.25/hour is a starvation wage

and must be raised!

Let me congratulate the people of Seattle,
your city council, and all those

who stood up and said that we need
a living wage, for workers, 15 bucks an hour.

You did it in Seattle, we are now gonna do it
for the entire country!

The simple truth is not a radical idea.
Is that no person who works 40 hrs/week

should be living in poverty.

(cheer)

And when we talk about fair wages
I want every man in this room

to stand with the women of this country,
[to] demand pay equity for women workers.

(cheer)

Alright guys, you're gonna
stand with the women, right?

Alright.

Further, y'know many republicans
talk about "family values"

you've heard them talking about family values?

(boos)

You just heard them the other night in their debate
they just loooove families.

Well, I've got 4 kids, I've got 7
beautiful grandchildren

my wife and I have been married
for 27 years,

we believe in family.

But OUR view of family values is
just a little bit different.

Now when the Republicans talk about
family values, let's be clear,

about what they're talking about.

They believe that women in America
should not have the right to control

their own bodies, I DISAGREE!

They believe that women in America
should not have the right to buy

the contraceptives they need, I disagree!

They believe that our gay brothers
and sisters should not have the right to get

married and enjoy all of the benefits of
being Americans, I disagree!

So let me tell you, briefly, my view.
Of family values.

And that is that the United States must end
the international embarrassment of being

the only major country on Earth,
the only one

which does not guarantee workers paid
medical and family leave.

(cheering)

Now let me tell you-
let me tell you

about real family values. And that is

that today in the state of Washington
in the state of Vermont

a woman is having a baby. It is
an extraordinary day for that woman,

for her family, and a pretty big day
for the baby as well. (laughter)

But here's the point.

Here is the point.

If that woman, if that family
has sufficient income,

that mom, and the dad
will be able to stay home

for weeks and months getting to know
and love their baby

getting to bond with their baby,
something, for those of you

who have kids know,
is the most extraordinary moments

of our lives.
(cheering)

But IF that mom, does not have
sufficient income.

She will be forced to go back to work
in three days, five days,

eight days, she will be separated
from that baby she just bore.

(booing)

Separating a mom from her baby
because she does not have

sufficient income to stay home
is NOT a family value,

it is the OPPOSITE of a family value.

That is why I will fight
for 12 weeks of paid family leave.

And that is why
the United States must also join

the rest of the industrialized world
and understanding a few points-

and that is that it now a country can a-
you may know this-

you may not know this-
but because of the collapse of our middle class

The people of America work longer hours
than do the people of any other country!

(boo)

And yet! Despite the fact that 85%
of men are working more than 40hrs,

65% of women are working more than
40 hrs,

there are jobs that are being offered today
that provide ZERO,

none, paid vacation time.

And that it why I will fight for 10 days
paid vacation time for every worker in America.

(cheering)

And furthermore we should not be
the only major country on Earth

not guaranteeing sick time
for our working people.

When we talk about the economy
and when pollsters go out

they call you up and they say
"What is uppermost on your mind,"

"What do you feel most strongly about?"
Invariably what the American people say

is a four-letter word, J. O. B. S.

People understand how fragile
the economy is,

they understand that if you're 55,
you can be replaced tomorrow

by somebody half your age
at half the wages

they understand that if you're young,
how hard it is to get a job,

especially a job equivalent to your
education.

People... (cheering, pause in speech)

So the truth is, the federal government
needs to develop

a massive federal jobs program
to put our people back to work.

ALL over this country.

All over this country our infrastructure
our roads, bridges, rail, airports,

waste water plants, water plants,
levies and dams,

are crumbling. We used to have
the best infrastructure in the world

now we are far below
many other countries.

Let us invest [unintelligible]
put forward legislation

a trillion dollars over 5 years
rebuild our infrastructure,

create up to 13 million good paying jobs.

(applause)

Think of an America where people are building
and repairing our rail system,

our air ports, our levies, our dams
improving our bridges,

improving our roads.

We can make America safer,
more efficient, more productive,

Let's do it.

And when we talk about jobs it's
not only the need to create

millions of decent paying jobs,
it is the need to stop

the loss of jobs because of our
disastrous trade policies.

You are looking at a Senator
and a former Congressman

who voted against AFTA, against CAFTA

against permitting normal trade
relations with China.

And you're looking at a senator who'll
do everything he can to defeat

this disastrous TPP!
(cheering)

We need an approach to trade
which works for working families

not just the CEO's of large corporations.

And when we use such words as
greed, recklessness, illegal behavior,

arrogance- these are just some
of the words to describe Wallstreet.

We bailed out Wallstreet because
they destroyed the American Economy

and because they were
"too big to fail"

(boo)

Today, most of the major banks are bigger,
now than they were when we bailed them out

because they were too big to fail!

So my view is pretty simple,
if a bank is too big to fail,

it's too big to exist,
we gotta break 'em up!

(wobbly camera cut to cheering)

We need a financial system
that is part of the economy

that makes affordable loans
to small and medium sized businesses

that helps us create jobs,
helps people buy homes,

not charge us outrageous rates
on our credit cards,

not be an island unto itself
whose only goal is

to make outlandish profits.
Let's break them up.

(cheering)

My friends let me be as blunt
and straightforward in telling,

if I haven't been already,
in telling you what I think

most of you already know-
and that is, as a result

of the disastrous Supreme Court decision
in the Citizens United case.

(boooooo)

The American political system
has been totally corrupted. Corrupted.

And make no mistake about it.
The foundations of American democracy

are being undermined.

What the Supreme Court said
to the wealthiest people in this country,

said "All right guys, you already own
much of the economy,"

"now we're gonna let you buy
the United States government,"

and that is exactly what they
are trying to do.

(booooo)

We have a situation.
Where one family the extreme right wing
Koch family-

(booo)

A family that believes in ending
social security, medicare, medicaid,

the Environmental Protection Agency,
the US Postal Service, that's their agenda.

That ONE family. One family.
Will spend almost 1 billion dollars

on this campaign to elect candidates
who represent the rich and the powerful.

(boo)

When one family. Can spend and is spending.
More money than either

the Democratic Party or
the Republican Party,

brothers and sisters that is not called
democracy, that is called oligarchy!

(cheering)

And that is why we have got
to overturn Citizens United.

I have not made many promises
during this campaign,

but let me repeat one promise
that I have made.

And that is, any nominee of mine
to the U.S. Supreme Court

will in fact have to pass
a litmus test.

And that litmus test is that
he or she will vote as soon as possible

to overturn Citizens United.

(cut to cheering)

(Many voices: "Bernie, Bernie" chant)

I am the former Chairman of the
Senate Veterans Committee

and I've talked to countless- countless
veterans who put their lives on the line

to defend this country and to defend
democracy.

And we cannot allow the billionaire class
to destroy American democracy.

We've gotta stand up and make it
crystal clear.

That not only will we overturn
Citizens United, we are gonna

move toward public funding
of elections.

(cheering)

I believe, I believe in my heart of hearts
I am a huge believer in democracy,

I love democracy, I love the idea
that everybody can participate

in the political process, I love the idea!
That we can and should have

serious debates! And respect people's
differences of opinion,

I love the idea that anybody can run
for office, but!

Unless we move to public funding
of elections,

young people will continue to have
to beg campaign funds

from the rich and the powerful
THAT I want to see end.

(cheering)

I wanna see- I wanna see people
here tonight, and others,

regardless of their political views-
conservatives, moderates, progressives,

I wanna see people say, "You know what?
I have a set of ideas."

This is what I believe when
I state for my country

I'm gonna run for office based on my ideas
NOT based on the amount

of money I collect from millionaires.

(cheering)

The other day, a few days ago
in D.C., I was at a meeting,

at a function, at an event with
Martin Luther King the Third.

Uh, and the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference. A major civil rights movement.

And they were there to honor and acknowledge
the 50th anniversary

of the Voting Rights Act in this country,
a HUGE step forward.

But they were also there, and I was also there
to say loudly and clearly

that the Supreme Courts' GUTTING
of the Civil Rights Act two years ago

is unacceptable.

If you can believe it, and how sad this is
Literally hours

After the Supreme Court ruled,
you had states going to work, trying to pass

legislation making it harder for
people of color, poor people and

older people to vote. How disgraceful.
(boo)

Now I'm a politician, and I run for office
sometimes I win and sometimes I lose,

but it has never ever occurred to me
to figure out a way

to keep people from voting because they
disagreed with me.

(cheering)

And let me see- say- as clearly as I can.

Those people, who are trying to keep
their fellow Americans from voting,

coming up with these phony
voter-fraud concerns.

Those people are political cowards,
who don't have the guts

to defend their ideas.

(cheering)

If you're in politics tell people why
you think they should vote for you,

don't try to prevent other from participating
in the democracy.

(cheering)

Today in America all of you know,
we are living in a highly competitive

global economy. And if we
are going to succeed,

we need the best educated
work force in the world.

(cheering)

It is absolutely absurd that today,
in America, in the year 2015,

hundreds of thousands of bright,
qualified young people

cannot go to college simply
because their families lack the income.

And that is why I have introduced
legislation that does

a couple of fairly revolutionary things.
Number one it says:

that in the United States of America,
every public college and university

will be tuition free!
(cheering)

And I'll tell you why
this is such an important idea.

It's not just obviously that it'll make
life easier financially for folks who're going to college

but it does something much more.
Right now in Seattle, in Burlington,

Vermont, and all across this country.
There are kids who're

in the 4th grade, who are in the 6th grade
their parents didn't go to college

their friends' parents didn't go to college,
they don't know anybody

who went to college, and the idea
of going to college is something

outside of their world view.
But what we will say to those kids

now is if you study hard, if you take
school seriously, you WILL

in fact, be able to go to college,
regardless of the economy of your family.

(cheering)

And when we talk about higher education
financing, we also have to talk

about the absurdity of millions of young
and not-so-young Americans

saddled with oppressive student debt.

(cheering)

Last year in Vermont, met with a group
of people, young woman who's

crime in life was she wanted
to go to medical school, she did,

she wanted to practice primary care
with low income people,

that's what she's doing. Exactly
the type of doctors we need-

she left school 300,000$ in debt.

Talked to a young woman in Iowa.
She went to dental school,

we have a dental crisis in America,
we NEED more dentists,

she left dental school, 400,000$
in debt.

(boo)

And millions of others, leaving college
40. 50. 60,000$ in debt.

Now what sense is it, that people
today with student debt

are paying 6, 8, 10% interest rates
on that debt,

when you can refinance your home for
2 or 3%.

Legislation that I authored will allow people
to significantly lower their interest rates

on student debt, by refinancing
and furthermore, we're gonna

get the government out of profiteering
on student debt.

It makes no sense that you have people
working today paying 20 or 25%

of their income paying it back on
their student loans,

they can't get a home, they can't
get married,

that's wrong and we're gonna change that.

(cheering)

When we talk about our responsibilities.
As human beings. And as parents.

There is nothing more important
than leaving this planet healthy

and habitable for our kids and
our grandchildren.

The debate is over. Now it's not
over on FoxTV, they forgot

to talk about it, the other day,
scientific community tells us

that climate change is the
great global crisis we face,

scientific community tells us
climate change is real,

is caused by human activity, it is
ALREADY causing devastating problems

in our country and throughout the world.

And what the scientists tell us is that
we have a reasonably

short window of opportunity to prevent
horrendous things from happening

to this planet, which they say- and I'm
Environmental Committee and the

Energy Committee- what the scientists
tell us, if we don't get our act together

this planet Earth will become 5-10
degrees warmer by the end of the century.

More droughts, more flood, more
extreme weather,

disturbances, more rising sea levels,
more acidification of the ocean.

And what the CIA tells us, climate change
will result in more international conflict,

as people fight for scarce water and land resources.

We have a moral responsibility to lead
the world to work

with China and Russia and India,
to lead the world in transforming

our energy system away from fossil fuel.
(cheering)

And into energy efficiency and sustainable
energies like wind, solar, geothermal,

and others. Now the truth is, y'know, as
perhaps the most progressive member

of the Senate I have strong disagreements
with my Republican colleagues

on a whole host of issues, that goes
without saying.

But, but. On this issue, what we are
seeing is not a disagreement.

We are seeing an international
embarrassment.

When you have a major political party
denying the reality

of what science is telling us.

(cheering)

And I say to my Republican colleagues,
I understand that your party

is heavily funded by the Koch brothers
and their fossil fuel machine,

I understand you're funded by
ExxonMobil, and the coal company.

And I understand, that if you listen
to science they may cut your funding

but I say this, to my Republican colleagues.
Have the courage and the decency

to listen to your kids and your
grandchildren,

not your campaign donors.

(cheering)

We talk about needs of
the United States,

of working people in the United States.

We should all be embarrassed
that we remain the only major country

on Earth that does not guarantee
all of our people healthcare as a right!

(cheering)

I live in Burlington Vermont, a hundred
miles away from Canada

they've got a national health care system.

Germany has a health care system,
the UK has a national health care system,

Scandinavia has a national health care
system.

And the United States of America MUST have
a single-payer medicare for all!

Single-payer system.

When we talk about our priorities as a nation
let me just tell you a little bit

about where my Republican colleagues
are coming from

I am the ranking member, the leader
of the opposition, of the Democratic side

on the important Budget Committee.
Several months ago,

the Republicans that drove the House and
the Senate, they passed their budget.

The media didn't report about it very much
but I want to tell you

what was in that budget. What the
Republicans did was

throw in their budget, recommended
to the Appropriations Committees

that they end the Affordable Care Act,
cut medicaid by over 400 billion dollars

which meant, and no one could argue this,
27 million Americans would be thrown

off of health insurance.

(boo)

And when you ask 'em, as I did,
tell me, when you throw

27 million people off of health insurance,
how many of them will die?

How many of them will end up
much sicker than they otherwise

would have been?

And you know what their answer is?
No answer at all,

they don't care.

And in their budget, and in their
budget,

over a 10 year period, when millions
of families are struggling to figure out

how they're gonna send their kids
to college, they cut the Pell Grant program

by 90 billion dollars.

And when millions of families
are struggling to put food on the table,

when half of the kids in public schools
in America get free lunch

or reduced lunch, because their
families lack the money,

Republicans make massive cuts
in nutrition programs, including

the WIC program, which provides
nutrition to low-income pregnant women.

And then, to give you an idea of
their priorities.

To add insult to injury,
they proceeded to provide

over 250 billion dollars in tax
breaks to

the richest of 2/10ths of 1%!

That is not a set of priorities that
is moral, that is

not a set of priorities that the
American people want.

Brothers and sisters, what this campaign
is about

is to bring people together who have
a very different set of priorities

than Republican priorities.

And to do that, we are going to
have to build a strong grassroots movement

and reach out to people who don't
necessarily agree with us on every issue

My guess is. That here in Washington
most working class Republicans

do not believe that we should be
giving huge tax breaks to billionaires

and cutting social security and medicare.

Our jobs is to reach out
to those Republicans,

our job is to reach out
to young people

who don't understand the significance
of politics for their lives,

our job is to bring people together.
we have got to

end the divisions in this country.
Between gays and straights,

between black and white,

and we have also got to understand
that when we bring people together,

we cannot forget that there are
11 million people in this country

who are living in the shadows,
we've gotta bring them out of the shadows.

We must be about bringing
families together,

not dividing them. We need
comprehensive immigration reform

and a path toward citizenship.

Yesterday I had a conversation
with the President about the situation

in Iran. We chatted for a while.

And what I get very nervous about,
is that apparently many

of my Republican colleagues
and Republican candidates for President

have forgotten the lessons
of the wars in Afghanistan,

and Iraq.

They forgot the real cost of war.
Not just 6,700 brave Amercians

who died in Afghanistan and Iraq.
But 500,000 who came home

with PTSD and traumatic brain injury.

And if this country means ANYTHING,
we must make certain that

every veteran gets the healthcare
and ALL the benefits

that they're entitled to.

(cheering)

And in terms of Iran, this is what
I believe.

I believe that a great nation must do
everything that it can

to resolve international conflict,
even with people we have strong

disagreements with. Rather than
going to war!

(cheering)

I voted against the war in Iraq
because I had a sense

of the kind of destabilization it would
bring about.

I wanna give peace every chance,
every opportunity.

So I am gonna work with
the President on his agreement

in making certain that Iran
does not get a nuclear weapon,

but we can do that without
going to war.

(cheering)

Let me conclude, let me conclude
by just saying this-

I hope very much that the thousands
of people here tonight

are prepared to think BIG, not small.

I hope you are prepared to imagine
the kind of country

we can create when government
works for all of us,

and not just a few.

We CAN live in a country where
healthcare is a right for all people.

We can live in a country in which
we have the best childcare

and pre-K system in the world!

We can live in a country
where everybody who has

the ability and desire can
get a higher education regardless

of their income.

We can live in a country
where our seniors can retire

with dignity and not have to choose
between food and medicine.

(cut off by applause)

And that is why we have to
expand social security,

not cut it.

We can live in a country
where everybody,

regardless of their race,
their religion, their disability

or their sexual orientation,
realizes the full promise

of equality that is our
birthright as Americans.

Brothers and sisters,
this is not Utopian dreaming.

This is the country we CAN create
if we are prepared to stand together,

if we are prepared to take on
the billionaire class,

if we are prepared to create
a vibrant, powerful,

political movement.

Thank you all, very much!

(Cheering, music in background)