Senator Bernie Sanders on how to Fight Oligarchy

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That's amazon.com slash ad-free podcasts to catch up on the latest episodes without the ads. It is an honor to be joined by Senator Bernie Sanders.
Senator, tell us about your Fight the Oligarchy tour where you're traveling to reddish and purplish areas and just speaking to the people and speaking to workers. Well, the goal of the tour is to go to areas where there are Republican congressmen and women who won by slim margins and educate the people in those districts to demand that their member of Congress not vote for huge tax breaks for billionaires, while at the same time support cuts to Medicaid, education and health care.
So the goal is to make sure that we do not pass a terrible, what is called a reconciliation bill. But most importantly, it is an effort to bring people together to take on the oligarchs who now run this country, to take on the people who are moving us toward authoritarianism and to make the point that the overwhelming majority of the American people want to see a government and an economy that works for all and not just a few.
One of the most powerful moments we've been covering these speeches that I see, and we've covered your speech in Warren. And thank you so much for doing that.
I really do appreciate that. Oh, it's what people want.
People want people like you who are fighting and who are listening. And there's a part in your speech where you ask the people in the crowd, what's it like to live paycheck to paycheck? And people share what they're experiencing with you.
Talk to us about that, Senator. Well, that was an extraordinary moment.
And here is the reality, which is not talked about very much. The reality is that in America today, our life expectancy is about four years less than other wealthy countries.
But even worse is the fact that if you're working class in America, on average, you live seven to eight years shorter life than people who are wealthy. Now, why is that? And the answer is not just healthcare, which is important.
Working class people, low income people do not have access to the kind of health care that the rich do. But it is the stress, the day to day stress that working class people live under.
And I grew up in a working class home. I know a little bit about what it's like to have a family living paycheck to paycheck.
And what I did, that was in Altoona, Wisconsin. And I said, okay, all right, tell me what it's like to have a family living paycheck to paycheck.
And what I did, that was in Altoona, Wisconsin.

I said, okay, all right, tell me what it's like to live under economic stress.

And people just stood up.

And one woman says, you know, it's a question of whether I buy shoes for myself or my kids,

whether I can afford eyeglasses, whether I can afford to go to the doctor,

whether, you know, I'm going to have the money to prepare a decent meal for my kids, that I live every day not knowing what to expect. How do I survive? And what that is about, that is the reality that tens of millions of our people are living under.
We don't talk about it. And what I have learned over the years, that some of the most important issues are the issues that get least discussion.
And one of those issues is not just the working class people that have six years short of life, seven years shorter lives than the rich. That's important.
Why is that? But what's equally important is 60% of the American people in the richest country on

earth live paycheck to paycheck. That means they go to work and if their landlord raises the rent, they don't know how they're going to be able to pay for it.
Kid gets sick, don't know how to afford to send the kid to the doctor. Car breaks down, don't know how to get it fixed, et cetera, et cetera.
That is the reality facing tens of millions of Americans in the wealthiest country on earth. And that is the issue that we got to focus on.
And that is why we got to transform our economy so that it works for everybody, not just billionaires. I heard one person in the crowd even say psychological torture.
It feels like we're being tortured by these oligarchs. Well, look, you tell me.
I mean, this is not hard to understand. I grew up in a family that went through this.
If your car breaks down and you can't afford to get it fixed, how do you get to work? And if you can't get to work, you lose your job. If you lose your job, what happens? People struggle every single day and that impacts the doctors.
There are physicians out there who call this the physiology of poverty. Physiology of poverty.
Your body reacts, your mind. The stress of just trying to survive every single day breaks the mind, breaks the body.

And that is why, you know, people are living shorter lives who are working class than the wealthy.

And this is an issue that we have got to deal with.

You know, and Senator, so many people, though, voted against their interest or voted against their unions.

And, you know, we were doing our best to try to cover what Trump and Musk were saying. Let me just show you what they were saying during the campaign.
This was out there. Yet people who were in unions, workers, voted for this.
I mean, I think they were deceived what the this is, and I want to get your take on it. But here, let's play this clip where Trump praises Musk during the campaign for firing workers who were striking for better pay and working conditions.
Let's play. This cutter.
I mean, I look at what you do. You walk in and you just say, you want to quit? They go on strike.
I won't mention the name of the company, but they go on strike and you say, that's okay. You're all gone.
You're all gone. So every one of you is gone and you are the greatest.
You would be very good. Oh, you would love it.
But you know, if you look at RGV... You would love it.
You'd be good. So what's going on here? How come people voted for that and now that happened? Let me comment two ways.
Number one, of course, what you're seeing precisely is that attitude now being reflected in what Musk is doing to the federal government. Oh, you worked for the federal government for 20 years? You're gone.
We don't need you anymore. You have a poor performance.
Who determined that? Well, I did. I never met you.
I never saw you. I never talked to you.
You're gone. So that is precisely what they're doing.
And I want to say this. I know there are people out there who say, well, you know, it's really unfortunate what's happening to these federal employees.
People like Musk are great believers in technology, artificial tech, artificial intelligence and robotics. And when that revolution sweeps across the private sector and threatens the jobs of tens of millions of workers, you know what the musks of the world are going to say? You're out of here.
Have a nice day. Goodbye.
They could care less about what happens to working people. But to answer your question more deeply, why did people vote for Trump, which is a good question, why do many working class people vote for Trump? The answer has, I think, less to do, to be honest with you, with Trump and Musk than it does with the Democratic Party.
And in my view, you have a Democratic Party, which over the years has been very strong and effective, I think, in fighting for women's rights. Terribly important.
Fighting for gay rights. Fighting for civil rights, all of which is important.

But in terms of standing up and taking on powerful special interests

and fighting for the working class, Democrats were not there.

And I hope you know, and I think many of your listeners may know

that unbelievably, it's not just that we have today massive income

and wealth inequality, where three people on top own more wealth than the bottom half of American society.

The reality, the economic reality of today is that over the last 50 years, five zero years, real inflation accounted for wages, despite huge increases in worker productivity, have not gone up.

Workers are making the same, maybe a little bit less than they were 50 years ago. And during that time, there was a $75 trillion transfer of wealth from the bottom 90% to the top 1%.
So the average worker out there says, yeah, I hear the Democrats, they're this, they're that. Do they understand what I am going through?

Do they understand that I used to have a decent job in manufacturing that's gone,

and now I'm making half as much as I used to?

Do they understand that I can't afford health care, I can't afford child care,

can't afford to send my kids to college, that I'm working 50 or 60 hours a week,

that my wife is working?

Do they really understand it?

And the answer is no, they don't.

Thank you. send my kids to college that I'm working 50 or 60 hours a week that my wife is working.
Do they really understand it? And the answer is no, they don't. So to my mind, the reason that Trump did so well with working people is he said, look, the system is broken.
And Democrats said, well, not really. It's just we need a little bit of changes.
Trump is right. The system is broken.
The problem is his quote-unquote solutions are going to make a bad situation even worse. Is the system broken? Yes.
Are you living in a democracy today? Well, maybe. But we have a corrupt campaign finance system which gives you one vote, but Elon Musk, the ability to spend $270 million to elect Donald Trump as the next president.
That's a broken anti-democratic campaign finance system. We have a healthcare system where despite spending twice as much per capita on healthcare as any other country, 85 million are uninsured or underinsured.
The cost of health care is so. We don't have doctors, nurses, mental health counselors, dentists.
Is our health care system working well? No, it is broken. Is our educational system working well? No, nobody can afford child care.
Usually expensive. Kids are going deeply into debt to get a higher education.
Kind of. That system is broken.
What about housing? Well, we've got 800,000 people who are homeless, but that's only half the problem. There are 20 million people who are spending 50% of their limited incomes on housing.
I talk to people in Vermont, trying to bring in a teacher from out of state. They signed up a good teacher.
Teacher couldn't come because the cost of housing was so high. True in Vermont, true all over this country.
So the system is broken for working class, for the middle class, for low income people. For the people on top, they're doing fantastically well.
So what the Democratic Party has to do is understand that reality, can't keep defending the status quo and say, you know what, we are prepared to take on the oligarchs who have so much economic and political power. We are prepared to take them on and create an economy that works for working people, not just the 1%.
percent so what does that look like to you once you have the descriptive and you recognize the prescriptive is we have to take on the oligarchy? Look, I think you're leading the way right now, speaking to workers across the country. And so maybe just speak to anybody who's listening right now.
We've got a pretty big audience here. And to the American people, what does that fight look like now where MAGA controls the executive branch, both houses in Congress? What does the fight look like? It means that this is a critical and unprecedented moment in American history.
it means that despair is not an option. And it means that you've got to stand up and fight back, not only for yourselves, but for your kids and in terms of climate change for the future of the planet.
So what does that mean? It means you've got to get out of your zone of comfort. It means you must be involved in the political process.
And that means maybe running for school board, running for city council, running for state legislature, or supporting good candidates who are prepared to stand up for the working class. It means right now, when we're facing a major Republican reconciliation bill, which wants to give over a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the 1% and cut Medicaid and education, it means making sure that your member of Congress does not vote for that terrible piece of legislation.
And by and large, it means in any way that you think is effective, get involved in the political process. The truth of the matter is that what goes on in Washington is way, way, way out of touch with where the American people are.
The American people don't think billionaires need a tax break. American people don't want to cut Medicaid.
The American people are sick and tired of paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, of being the only major country on earth, not to guarantee health care to all people, of having the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth, a nation in which 22% of seniors are trying to get by on $15,000 a year or less. In other words, the American people do not support the status quo.
But what we have got to do is educate and organize and get people involved in whatever way works for them in the political process. And ultimately, we need to create a government with members of Congress who are standing proudly with the working class and not with the 1% and campaign contributors.
That's what it means. Where does the fight the oligarchy tour go

next? We're going to be in Las Vegas on Thursday. And then we are going to Denver, Colorado, and then we're going to be in Greeley, Colorado, and then we're going to be in Arizona, both in Phoenix and in Tucson.

And already I'm told by my staff that we have some 20,000 RSVPs for the rally in Denver, which will, I think, be the largest rally, which is kind of off the charts. But the turnout looks like it's very good.
I'm going to be going with my good friend, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who I think, as everybody knows, has been an inspiration for young people all over this country.

She's a real fighter.

She's doing a great job in the House.

So it's an honor to be hitting the road with Alexandria.

It's an honor to have you here on the Midas Touch podcast.

Senator Bernie Sanders will be covering all of those rallies here.

Thank you for all you do.

Thank you very much.

Keep up the good work.